It's that time of year again, if not a little more than late unfortunately, I've been much busier than normal this year with going to my girlfriend's family's house for Christmas (strike that. fiancé's family's house!). But, I return to you this Christmas season with another Sufjan Stevens release:
Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10, which just came out in November of 2012. Apparently, we should expect one of these compilation albums every five years or so (this one done between 2006-2010), because each Christmas him and some friends get together and record songs and carols Sufjan style, which becomes one of the EPs that makes up
Silver & Gold. The EPs are:
Highlights include: "Coventry Carol", with very nice classical guitar and banjo with strings and chorus; "Carol of St. Benjamin the Bearded One", which has a beautiful melody with arpeggiated chords in the background and chorus in a call/response/counterpoint/counter melody sort of way; and "Barcarola (You Must Be a Christmas Tree)", one that grows steadily over the entire track and builds nicely at the end.
The longest of the EPs, highlights include: "Christ the Lord is Lord", which is quite short and I'm not sure if it is the full original score or arranged or what, but it is labeled as music by Czech composer, Leoš Janáček--simply worth noting Sufjan's broad use of musical material, which I applaud!; "Ah Holy Jesus", just a beautiful chorale by Johann Crüger, sung by a decent choir too--there are two other versions of this tune; "Ding-a-ling-a-ring-a-ling", an inane track of garage band nonsense that is noisy and loud and repetitive, but it sort of grows on you I guess; "Make Haste to See the Baby", worth listening to the first half that contains a gorgeous mellow instrument of unknown origin to me (maybe reed organ?), before the overly boomy and out of tune piano arrives; "Even the Earth Will Perish and the Universe Give Way", which also has the reed organ and twinkling pianos.
Highlights include: "Angels We Have Heard On High", a recomposed version by Sufjan that is very pleasant and shows off his baroque pop and electronic skills quite eclectically but nicely; "Christmas in the Room", a nice blend of simple electric guitar and electronic synths; all told you should expect to hear lots of electronica in this EP, perhaps he was going through his
The Age of Adz phase?
Highlights include: "Sleigh Ride" Sufjan style, with a surprise horse whinny at the end; and "X-Mas Spirit Catcher", a fun kind of silly tune with lots of beat boxing, yet with moments of luxurious chords in the piano. This EP is mostly slapstick arrangements of typical songs I guess, especially with the picture on the cover causing you to expect light-heartedness, but listen to "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" and you'll see what I mean.
Highlights include: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", simple and pleasing; "Up on the Housetop", which shows off Sufjan and company trying to be all hip hop R&B; "Justice Delivers its Death", a beautiful flowing song with piano, acoustic stringed instruments and reverb harmonized vocals; "Christmas Unicorn", perhaps the highlight on the entire
Silver & Gold.
I hope you take the two hour (I'm guessing) time it takes to listen through it. But, it is a worthy diversion and I wish I could have brought it to you earlier, but hey Christmas music is good all winter. I hope it brings some cheer to you, and maybe in all its silliness reminds you of the true spirit and meaning of Christmas, the Birth of Christ, and the bringing of hope into a broken world. Listen in its entirety on Sufjan's Bandcamp,
here. Also see his website,
here, and notes on each song (who wrote, who composed that sort of thing),
here on Wikipedia. The song "Christmas Unicorn" over under 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. Enjoy! And happy festivities this last day of 2012!
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