As a big music fan, I thought I would share one of my favorite Christmas collections with the blog, "Sufjan Stevens Presents Songs for Christmas." If you haven't heard of Sufjan Stevens, he is a singer/songwriter who gets labeled as an "indie-folk" artist, and who is one of my favorite newer artists.Sufjan received some time in the spotlight from his single "Chicago," which was featured in the movie Little Miss Sunshine and came from his acclaimed 2005 album "Come on Feel the Illinoise" (Side note: The album is part of Sufjan's ambitious "50 States Project", where he is attempting to record an album for each one of the fifty states - so far, he has only completed Michigan and Illinois in the last five years - needless to say, the completion of the project is not looking good).
Sufjan is not only a talented artist who plays almost all the instruments on his albums (from banjo to flute), but he is also not afraid to express his spirituality on his records. While you will not necessarily find Sufjan in the Christian music section at the record store, several of his songs reference spiritual themes, both directly and indirectly. For example, his album "Seven Swans" contains multiple songs that address Christianity ("Abraham," "The Transfiguration"), and the song "Casmir Pulaski Day" from the Illinois album is a heartbreaking story of a young man finding out his lover has cancer, and dealing with his anger at God because of it. [A review of the album from a Christian perspective and referencing that song extensively can be found here]. Sufjan also exhibits a sense of humor, fun, and hope throughout his music, which separates him from other indie-folk musicians (who can sometimes drag into meloncholy), and keeps his spiritual ruminations from becoming preachy.
Sufjan's Christmas project is a collection of several EPs that he created every Christmas in an attempt to appreciate Christmas. According to his label's website:
"The recording process took place every December, for one week, usually at home, provoking collaborations with friends, roommates, and musical peers. Armed with a Reader’s Digest Christmas Songbook (and a mug of hot cider) Sufjan & friends concocted a musical fruit cake year after year, implementing every musical instrument they could find lying around the house: banjo, oboe, Casiotone, wood flute, a buzzy guitar, hand claps, sleigh bells, Hammond organ, and some tree tinsel. Did we mention sleigh bells?"
The result is an odd, yet compelling mix of Christmas standards and several original Christmas songs. Granted, there are some definite misses in the collection (I don't think the songs "Ding! Dong!" and "Get Behind Me, Santa" will reach regular Christmas rotation), but Sufjan's versions of "The Friendly Beasts" and "What Child is This" are definitely worth a listen.
Sufjan is definitely not for everyone, but it is nice to hear something a little different (yet still familiar) during Christmas time.
