the return of Sufjan! new EP download

"... a dramatic homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon’s 'Sounds of Silence'..."


Sufjan Stevens is finally back. With new music. Which isn't an instrumental art piece about an expressway. zomg.

I know a lot of people will be excited about this. Sufjan Stevens, he of the "I'm planning to make an album about all 50 states" claim (which btw, I wonder he was ever serious, just expecting people to read it as a deadpan, surreal exaggeration and never bothering to correct us for being foolish enough to believe it), seemed to be in reclusive musician mode, retiring from the glare of his past achievements. It seemed unthinkable that such an utterly prolific musician could drop in output so dramatically, and at such a crucial time. Plus he just seems too grounded to really go insane with all the pressure. Maybe dude was just waiting it out. My expectations for an Illinoise follow-up had dropped and dropped (or just changed), and maybe that's a good thing.

Come On Feel The Illinoise was an unbelievable, future classic of a record, and its B-sides collection The Avalanche is so imposingly good that it probably would have garnered universal star reviews if released as the A-sides. My bandmate Josie loves Sufjan with her whole heart and used to want to marry him. After the number of listens I gave Illinoise in the months I first got it, I can't really listen to it in the same way anymore, but I can't think of many other modern records that had such a huge initial impact on me. So new Sufjan material is quite exciting.

The title track of this new EP, All The Delighted People is straight up insanity. So much (somewhat overpowering, yet effectively so) orchestral freakouts, sombre choirs, and an overriding grandiose feel. In a way, it's one of his most symphonic pieces, not just in the instrumentation, but in the way it swoops and sweeps and progresses through movements. Whoa.

The rest is not particularly cohesive, but you know what you're in for - there's a varied range of pastoral folk, a "classic rock" version of the title track (dude must demo everything ad infinitum, bet there's four other versions on his hard drive), horns, strings, observant lyrics, just download it etc. Can't wait for another immaculately thought out record that expands to the seams of his chosen concept, but this gets the ball rolling.

Download it legally for just US $5 right here: Sufjan Stevens bandcamp or just stream to your heart's content with the mp3 player below.