Ahead of his headline set at End Of The Road Festival this weekend (his first ever UK festival appearance, and second anywhere in the world), we've ranked Sufjan Stevens' 10 best songs in order of greatness.

10. 'Jacksonville': Drenched with deliberately impenetrable local references, the greatness of 'Jacksonville' lies in its mood and tone - everything else is illusive, impossible to pin down. The words, somehow both deeply specific and universal, seem to serve as place-holders a feeling that transcends language.

9. 'Come On! Feel The Illinoise!': There simply aren't enough hours in the day to give this song - which is split into two parts, but with no clear division between the two - its full title here, though we recommend you read the entire tracklisting of Illinois, because it reads like the strangest poem ever written. With its strange staccato rhythm, it's an urgent, carnival-esque seven minutes, that wraps its sinister cheerfulness in hauntingly bleak lyrics, "I cried myself to sleep last night."

8. 'All Of Me Wants All Of You': Perhaps one of the most succinct, depressing and quietly debauched summations of a dying relationship is contained within one line: "You checked your texts while I masturbated."

7. 'Casimir Pulaski Day': A painful, touching tribute to a female friend who died from bone cancer, 'Casimir Pulaski Day' comprises the sort of unimportant yet significant memories you only think about when someone's gone. "In the morning, through the window shade / When the light pressed up against your shoulderblade / I could see what you were reading."

6. 'Should Have Known Better': The first track to be taken from Stevens' most recent album, Carrie & Lowell, the grief-stricken lyrical intensity (the whole album was inspired by the death of Stevens' mother, Carrie) is lifted somewhat by the cautious optimism in its light, poignant mid-track instrumental.

5. 'Chicago': Once Sufjan's landed on a melody he's happy with, he's not afraid to hammer it well and truly home. Somehow, in 'Chicago', he takes two fairly simple melodic patterns and stretches them out, sprawling and cinematic, into something that feels as if it's constantly changing.

4. 'All Delighted People': With the support of a choir that lurks quietly and beautifully in the background, like wind blowing through a draughty window, Stevens' voice cracks and soars in this 11-minute odyssey. Just as the orchestral accompaniment crescendos to a crashing climax, everything cuts off, and Stevens' voice is left naked and vulnerable. He borrows famous lyrics and idioms, and twists them into something stranger - "I love you from the top of my heart."

3. 'A Little Lost': It's difficult to do justice to the simple beauty of Arthur Russell's music, but with this cover, Stevens has managed to respectfully transform it. Opening with a booming electronic drum beat reminiscent of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill', he breathes new life into Russell's stark, heartbreaking lyrics: "I'm a little lost with you... That may be an understatement."

2. 'To Be Alone With You': A song of such aching delicacy that it feels as if it could crumble away at any moment, 'To Be Alone With You' lists, in earnest, what Stevens would do to be alone with the song's subject. "I'd swim across Lake Michigan," he suggests, "I'd sell my shoes." They're futile, almost childlike gestures, sung with a deep sincerity.

1. 'John Wayne Gacy. Jr': Stevens' 2005 concept album, Illinois, references places, events and people related to the US state of Illinois. This song's eponymous subject is the 1970s serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr, who sexually assaulted and murdered at least 33 boys and young men, and buried them in the crawl space of his home. The song is simultaneously beautiful, disturbing, horrifying and starkly empathetic. The final twist of the knife comes with the closing line, "And in my best behaviour I am really just like him / Look beneath the floorboards / For the secrets I have hid."