by Sufjan Stevens List Price:$15.00 Our Price:$13.00 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Details
Media: Audio CD
Release Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Label: Sounds Familyre
Average Customer Review: 0 Based on 0 reviews.
Sales Rank: 333
Tracks
1.
To Be Alone With You
2.
Transfiguration
3.
We Won't Need Legs to Stand
4.
Size Too Small
5.
Sister
6.
Seven Swans
7.
In the Devil's Territory
8.
He Woke Me Up Again
9.
Good Man Is Hard to Find
10.
Dress Looks Nice on You
11.
All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands
12.
Abraham
Top Customer Reviews
Rating:
4 Acoustic precision
Sufjan Stevens is a banjo virtuoso. He plays that instrument with the precision and crispness of an electronic sequencer. Stevens' hypnotically rhythmic banjo playing is the first thing that stands out on "Seven Swans." Though the use of such instrumentation may initially seem like novelty, a close listen reveals that the banjo arrangements are essential to the songs' success. It is impossible to imagine songs like "Dress Looks Nice on You" and "In the Devil's Territory" without Stevens' intricately fluid passages. It is the banjo--together with electric and acoustic guitars, female backing vocals, and minimal drum and electric bass work--that infuses these songs with a rare level of textural depth. Stevens' melodies and vocals are solid but undistinguished. Combine them with the harmonic acrobatics that underpin them, however, and the result is something glorious--akin to an acoustic Four Tet with the added benefit of earnest vocals and completed song ideas. Stevens' lyrics range from cryptic to explicitly religious. Whatever one thinks of them, their sincerity cannot be questioned. The sum total is the best album of 2004 so far.
Rating:
4 Another great album from Sufjan!
Wow - I was really happy upon listening to this album - I of course had high expectations after "Michigan" - and though I would not say this album surpasses that one, it is certainly quite good - very good indeed. The instrumentation is lovely - acoustic almost exclusively with banjo and guitar - the songs are great and Sufjan's singing is very hushed and sweet - like he's whispering us secrets - reminding sometimes of Iron and Wine...highlights include "the dress looks nice on you", "to be alone with you" - which a had hoped would be a Dylan cover, but it wasn't - but it was a very well, maybe superior song with the same title...also, "he woke me up again" is excellent. Highly recomended - as well as "Michigan". "A sun came" is good too, but Sufjan has certainly honed his skills and become more consistently good since that debut...sorry for rambling, enjoy!
Rating:
5 Wonderfully fragile
The strong presence of Christian imagery on this album shouldn't really surprise anyone familiar with 'Michigan' (close attention to the lyrics of 'Vito's Ordination Song', in particular, reveals an allegorical undercurrent). Stevens' lyrics are more overtly Biblical on this record, but no less affecting, because he never grandstands or resorts to proselytizing. These are simply snapshots of a personal faith. His delivery of lines such as 'Take instead the ram/Until Jesus comes' is wisely low-key where lesser singers would try to imbue them with stilted drama.Appropriately, since the scale of the subject matter has moved further inward from the Everyman scope of 'Michigan', the music itself has become more sparse and minimal, in terms of both instrumentation and songwriting. The backing vocals on the first track, All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands, repeat the same wordless melody ad nauseum in a way that is reminiscent of Philip Glass. (Incidentally, the title of the song is a reference from Isaiah 55:12 that may be lost on some: 'For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands.') The banjo and guitar on 'In The Devil's Territory' repeat polyphonic fragments of melody, slowly shifting and letting the song breathe. In fact, the entire affair has a cool, airy feeling to it, like Stevens is playing in a field on a mild afternoon. He coaxes some gorgeous sounds out of fairly standard folk instruments.The only flaw this album has is its slightly below-par middle third: it's still gorgeous music, but the material preceding it is so good that the slightly more rote folk songs pale in comparison. This is a minor quibble, though; think of that 5-star rating as a 4 1/2, rounded up.
Rating:
3 Beautiful at times. Annoying at others.
Sufjan has an incredible talent for writing beautiful lyrical and musical melodies, and he does so on this most recent album. Like "Greetings...", the hook of the initial progression of many of the songs grabbed me, but there is often a point where the songs build, and a full band kicks in. Unfortunately, the repetitive back-up vocals and droning organs significantly take away from the songs. The production decisions are invasive of the stripped down and otherwise beautiful guitar, banjo, and vocals. While I initially love the songs, I find myself skipping to the next song when Sufjan heats things up with his back-up help.
Rating:
5 The Anti-Christ of Christian Pop
While it be too early to call Sufjan Stevens 'the next Nick Drake', 'Seven Swans', his stripped down follow-up to 2003's excellent 'Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State', makes such a declaration awfully tempting. Of course, there are significant differences between the two. Whereas it's difficult to separate Drake's music from the thought of his eventual suicide, Sufjan Stevens balances his whispered nostalgia with an underlying hopefulness. Billed largely as a collection of b-sides from the Michigan sessions, 'Seven Swans' arrived without much fanfare, aiming to serve as a musical appetitizer to Stevens' next entry into his ambitious '50 States' project. Yet, despite the humility with which it arrived, 'Seven Swans' finds Stevens surpassing his prior work with stronger songwriting and a more intimate, banjo-driven approach. For much of the album, Sufjan Stevens reflects on spirituality and his faith, exploring Christianity with honesty and love. Whereas most Christian pop condescends to its listeners with melodramatic 'shalls' and 'thous', Stevens sings about his faith without preaching. While the 'switch baby with Jesus' strategy of Christian pop is at work here at times, Sufjan pulls this off in a good way, capturing the intimacy of a great love song to integrate into his pious musings. In a sense, it's the Anti-Christ of Christian pop: a thoughtful, delicate album that evokes the quiet joy of the faithful. On 'In The Devil's Territory', Sufjan softly sings 'I'm not afraid to die, to see you... at last' as if he were singing to a lover, leaving out the self-righteousness that characterizes the megalomaniacal zealots of most Christian music. The best tracks, however, are saved for last. 'Seven Swans' is a haunting, metaphorical depiction of the coming of the apocalypse, in which Sufjan gives his only warning to the unfaithful, crying out: 'He will take you. If you run, he will chase you. Because he is the Lord.' The last track, 'The Transfiguration', is probably his best song to date. The perfect fusion of folk, faith, and pop, it brings a flawless conclusion to a truly blessed work.
Rating:
5 a rare type of artist on top of his game
There aren't many true poets in the world. As Bob Dylan has often noted, being a poet in this world is exceedingly difficult-- maybe increasingly difficult. Though I would not compare Sufjan with Dylan as a poet, he has an unmistakable charisma which makes me wonder what it would have been like to watch Dylan, pre-electric Dylan, alone on stage. Such was my impression when I recently saw Sufjan perform many of the tunes on Seven Swans at South by Southwest here in Austin, with not much more than a banjo. When the energy of the music festival wore off, a festival in which I saw some serious performances, I was left contemplating only Sufjan in the residue of the day. "Seven Swans" is an intensely spiritual and personal album, but without shutting out the outside world -- much like Coltraine's "A Love Supreme." Here's a man with an intense personal relationship with his Lord, unafraid to articulate the depth of the bond and its contours. Alone, the music is compelling indie grooves, based on banjo but styled like indie guitar and organ riffs and organized with an indie sensibility. Alone, the vocals would play fine at a campy Christian retreat. Blended, it's majestic. To be fair, at times you expect Kermit the Frog to break in "Why are there so many...... songs about rainbows?" But, in the balance, Sufjan deftly skirts farce and the album charges on to victory. The other reviewers of this album have done a good job running through the tracks, but I want to call out "In the Devil's Territory". Anyone purchasing the album should be ready to loop track 3 ad nauseum, and have a difficult time exorcising the track from his or her mind. Ultimately, the title track "Seven Swans" is probably the most substantial accomplishment on the album, though "In the Devil's Territory" is by far the most musically compelling. However, it suffers from a slight lapse of connection between music and meaning. It sounds like a journey with the angels, but in fact could be background music for a Satanic seance. "He Woke Me Up Again" is another track that should delight music lovers and all of Christendom alike with its hooks and optimistic message. "We Won't Need Legs to Stand" is another odd beauty, with shades of Leonard Cohen. Do yourself a favor and see Sufjan up close in a small venue before he gets discovered by the masses -- a breakout which seems inevitable.
Rating:
5 Kickass
At one of our power meetings at Free Williamsburg at the beginning of this year we were throwing around names of people who might be good people to interview or review. Sufjan Stevens came up. I had never heard of him let alone spell his name. It is detailed folk music. He is famous for the banjo work. Songs like "In The Devil's Territory" evokes the past and looks to the future. Sufjan worked with Daniel Smith of Danielson Famile to get this multi-layered sound. It's good that someone is obsessed with beauty in music. This record is strong and complex. It is not easy reading. The religious themes are an interesting shade. It is a vision of death and despair. It comes off sounding like something Badly Drawn Boy or Elliot Smith cooked up. Stevens may be the heir to Elliot Smith's legacy.
Rating:
4 A Detour From The State Project
Wow. Sometime at the end of last year I was getting pretty sick of seeing Sufjan's name splayed all over various music news sites and was once even "forced" to hear his (what I dismissed as) boring songs during a long car ride. But when I opened my mind and actually listened to a few songs off "Michigan," I was blown away. (I shed tears listening to "For the Widows in Paradise.." for the first time at the lines "I did everything for you.") "Seven Swans" comes off a bit differently and boasts a heavier Christian theme. Sufjan is freer to explore a wider range of subjects, one of which includes a famous literary work by Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." The song and its lyrics were strangely touching and very compelling despite the fact that I had never read any of O'Connor's stories. The banjo really shines on this one, as it escalates, so does the listener's emotion. And one of my favorites, "The Transfiguration" is an almost verbatim retelling of the passage of the same title in the gospels. The gradual build into a sweeping chorale of praise transports the listener to a holy place. Sufjan's work represents a fine marriage between outstanding musicianship and true faith, a rare find in the Christian music industry of today. (Which makes me wonder, for those audiophiles who aren't all into "indie," what is their unbiased opinion?) As a Christian myself, Sufjan's music doesn't merely entertain with its beautiful interplays and irregular time signatures, it goes a step further and makes me examine my own heart. He has quickly become one of my favorite artists and I look forward to his next album, "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!" to be released on July 5th.
Rating:
4 Really good, but not Michigan.
The first Sufjan album I heard was Welcome to Michigan. Its combination of populism, elaborate orchestration, lyrical intimacy, and weird, sad optimism is totally unique. This album is really good, but it doesn't have the same range. The songs repeat themselves and each other a little too much to make listening to it all the way through as satisfying as the Michigan album. That said, "In the Devil's Territory" is probably my favorite Sufjan song.
Rating:
5 Nothing short of amazing.
Theres just something beautiful about this album, something that catches your ear, and never lets it go. This isnt a flavor of the week album, this is a wonderful recording that has a near infinite replay value. Each song is intricately crafted, with wonderful emotion, but in a subtle, confident way. This is music for any day, any mood.......while it may fit a rainy, cloudy day, or a melancholic mood even better, this music is listenable at any time. This album is some kind of container for beauty. Every note can be felt, every chord graces the ear. This is what music should be, and what many artists these days, will never become.
