Sufjan Stevens' gorgeous music

[syme]

It seems like recently I've been discovering all sorts of new wonderful music. This time it's Sufjan Stevens. I had heard some of his songs before, particularly "Chicago" from his "Illinoise" album, which is quite famous and very beautiful. However, I hadn't paid attention to his lyrics. Then I got a giftcard from some free downloads and I decided to check out some of his other songs to see if they were worth downloading. The first one I checked out was "For the Widows in Paradise; For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti." Here they are:

I have called you children, I have called you son.
What is there to answer if I'm the only one?
Morning comes in Paradise, morning comes in light.
Still I must obey, still I must invite.
If there's anything to say, if there's anything to do,
If there's any other way, I'll do anything for you.

I was dressed embarrassment.
I was dressed in wine.
If you had a part of me, will you take you're time?
Even if I come back, even if I die
Is there some idea to replace my life?
Like a father to impress;
Like a mother's mourning dress,
If you ever make a mess, I'll do anything for you

I have called you preacher; I have called you son.
If you have a father or if you haven't one,
I'll do anything for you. I did everything for you

Now, Sufjan Stevens is a favorite of hip, indie types, so when I read those lyrics I was rather surprised. "They sound downright Christian!" I thought. But they weren't the typical, banal, cliched lyrics one finds in Christian rock or pop. They were more like, well, like what I think Dappled Things is trying to do with fiction and poetry. So I looked a little deeper and found other songs like "The Transfiguration," "Abraham," "In the Devil's Territory" and even one titled "A Good Man is Hard to Find"! All with moving, profound, and simply beautiful, music and lyrics. Then I even looked back at the more popular "Chicago" and realized that song is just as inspired by faith as the rest. Here's the chorus:

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

Who do you think he's talking about?

I'm thrilled to have discovered him. It's no wonder he names one of his songs after one of our usual suspects' story. He's doing for indie rock what Flannery O'Connor did for fiction a few decades ago.

Go and download his music (legally!) TODAY if you can.

[katycarl]

That is REALLY amazing stuff. My goddaughter (who is 20 -- she was just baptized and entered the Church this past Easter) recommended Sufjan a few months ago, but I am lazy when it comes to investigating music, and it generally takes a second recommendation (in this case yours, Syme) to get me off my duff.

I guess this is as good a place as any to also recommend free Internet radio where you can hear Sufjan and loads of other great artists, all upon request. (That's how I've been listening to S. so far: this site pulls up "related" music with similar characteristics and mixes it with that of the artist you request, but since S. is unique in many ways, you get to hear a lot more of him than on a station created from the name of a more cookie-cutter artist.) Try www.pandora.com -- you'll be glad you did.

[syme]

First of all, I think it's awesome that you have a 20 year-old goddaughter. Secondly, thanks for that link, I'll check it out. I normally don't like internet radio but if you can get songs upon request that makes it much more appealing.

[Bernardo]

Yes, Sufjan Stevens is awesome. But more importantly, I'm completely blown away by this Pandora radio. It's amazing. It's like intellingent radio. Or actually, it *is* intelligent radio. I thought it was just a matter of radio-on-demand, almost like having a giant playlist at your fingertips, but I did not expect that they would actually create a personilized radio station for you according to your tastes. Amazing.

[billyd]

I'm a huge fan of Sufjan. I think syme said it best: he's just not cliché. I was just introduced to Dappled Things a few days ago, and I see a lot of what I find so attractive in Stevens' work: honest and authentic, truly expressive artwork about what it means to be Christian. And beautiful to boot!

Probably my favorite of his songs is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." It is a song about a serial killer which is haunting, yet incredibly moving and tender. Stevens' work is so perfect because it really strikes the chord of universality; in his art the universality of the human experience is expressed through the universal language of music.

I wonder if anyone here has heard of Anathallo or mewithoutYou, two bands which I find quite similar to Sufjan Stevens in the above respects.

[syme]

Oh yeah, John Wayne Gacy, Jr. is quite a song! I have never heard of Anathallo or mewithoutYou, but I'll definitely check them out now that you mention them. How did you find out about DT, by the way?

[billyd]

My brother is a big fan DT and he has some photography featured in the Christmas '07 issue. So I came to check it out and I really like what you've got going on here. I spend a lot of time trying to find artists who are making good Christian art today. Like you said before about the cliché "Worship music" that we hear so often, it just doesn't satisfy. The Catholic Church has a beautiful artistic heritage, but it's so hard to find modern art of that caliber. Needless to say, I am refreshed by a publication like DT.

[timjim77]

I went to a Sufjan concert, and it was such an incredible experience. One of his albums is called Seven Swans, and it is his most overtly religious album. He described at the concert an experience he had which gave its name to the album. It seemed a bit apocryphal, but I'll try to retell it anyway.

He lived in a trailer in Michigan, and his father was outside burning leaves, as he often did, when the very nearby forest caught on fire. And the fire department was so excited because it hadn't had a fire in ages. And as the family watched the smoke billow in the sky, Sufjan saw Seven Swans with seven horns and seven crowns, and he heard a voice that said, "I am the Lord. Serve me." (I don't remember if that was exactly the verse.) And then he played beautiful music.

[timjim77]

Also, some other atypical Christian artists:

Soul Junk
Deerhoof
Danielson
Jennifer Knapp