After completing the first installment of his planned series of 50 records -- one album dedicated to each state in the U.S. -- indie folk overachiever Sufjan Stevens returns with Seven Swans, a collection of stripped-down, introspective musings on life, love, and faith that chart the geographic location of the heart and soul. Many of these themes were dealt with eloquently on Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State, presenting the singer/multi-instrumentalist as a first-rate interpreter of the human condition, as well as a gifted musician. The 12 tracks on Swans yield the same bounty, but with a leaner arsenal, due to Stevens' sparse arrangements and production from Danielson Famile mastermind Daniel Smith. Fellow Famile members Elin, Megan, David, and Andrew -- who also appeared on The Great Lakes State -- lend their vocal and percussion talents to the mix, resulting in a surreal campfire environment that's part confessional and part processional. Beginning with the gorgeously titled "All the Trees in the Field Will Clap Their Hands," Stevens saunters out of the gate with nary an overdub to be heard, letting the banjo lead the parade, slowly picking up piano, percussion, and the angelic voices of Megan and Elin before disappearing over the hilltop. He channels Bert Jansch on the love song "The Dress Looks Nice on You" and Eric Matthews on "To Be Alone With You," striking a winning balance of '60s British folk and indie Americana. Like the Violent Femmes' seminal pseudo-Christian masterpiece, Hallowed Ground, Seven Swans treats religion with simplicity and sincerity, approaching the subject with an almost feverish peacefulness. "Abraham," "We Won't Need Legs to Stand," and "He Woke Me Up Again," with its fiery, overdriven organ, are all effective tomes of the singer's faith, but that faith can be tested. Stevens is quite aware of the dark, and no more so than on the Flannery O'Connor-inspired "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," a first-person murder narrative that reveals a subtle current of menace only hinted at in the earlier portion of the record. Like faith, these songs require patience, as their almost mantra-like arcs take their time to fully form. By the time he reaches the spirited closer, "Transfiguration," an affirming take on the Gospels that reaches an almost Polyphonic Spree crescendo, the listener has no choice but to conform -- if only for the length of the record -- to the writer's unabashed spirituality, and at just under 45 minutes, it's an easy choice to make.
I rediscovered Seven Swans this week. The album is a beautiful collection of songs with Sufjan’s seemingly autobiographical, go-to themes of love and religion. However, the track which shares the record’s namesake is a step above every other track on the album.The track moves its way through its first half with the same delicate banjo [...]
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Like a lot of Sufjan Stevens' music, you have to listen to the whole song in order to fully appreciate the value of what you are listening to. Seven Swans starts off slow. It tells a bizarre telling of events that somehow gets transformed (in a beautiful way) to a sort of message about religion. This message is sung beautifully. I like Sufjan Stevens' songs a lot, both none religious and religi...
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"I can see alot of life in you"So, as catastrophic as it may seem, i only just recently got off my lazy ass and bought Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens. I love sufjan, and I knew that this was a quintisential album to own, i just didn understand how much. I owned every other album, that he has released (including Enjoy Your Rabbit, though its not in my iTunes). He is my favorite artist and is abso...
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let's take a vote....the best song sufjan has written so far, lyrically?i'm casting my vote for "to be alone with you". amazing, just amazing.
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I rediscovered Seven Swans this week. The album is a beautiful collection of songs with Sufjan’s seemingly autobiographical, go-to themes of love and religion. However, the track which shares the record’s namesake is a step above every other track on the album.The track moves its way through its first half with the same delicate banjo [...]
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This is all I'm in the mood for tonight.A perfect song. Probably my favorite Sufjan Stevens song.I haven't got much to say tonight but I felt like posting this.Well..........I can say this. I really do appreciate a good breakfast. Of course I have goals in life but a good breakfast gets me halfway.
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The Transfiguration was my first favorite Sufjan song, the first listened to on a loop so consistent as to be read, from afar, as madness. The first time, we watched with about 20 other people, on the floor in front of a tiny stage on an ancient boat. His band almost larger than the crowd. He played this song first. All 20 people wondered what magic we'd stumbled upon. Years later, we watched w...
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"I can see alot of life in you"So, as catastrophic as it may seem, i only just recently got off my lazy ass and bought Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens. I love sufjan, and I knew that this was a quintisential album to own, i just didn understand how much. I owned every other album, that he has released (including Enjoy Your Rabbit, though its not in my iTunes). He is my favorite artist and is abso...
More >
It's a growing trend, and one we wholeheartedly support: the advent of the full-album live set where a renowned artist plays an entire L. P from start to glorious finish. The latest adherent to the cause is Detroit-born indie-folkist Sufjan Stevens.
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There is something about the music Sufjan Stevens produces that makes one want to go exploring small towns. The man takes all sorts of information, adds folk rhythms and his amazing voice. Whats produced is not like anything else I've heard. XKCD comics make my world go round. For some reason, every one of these brilliant pieces seem to work perfectly with my lifestyle.What style is that?Oh...y...
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let's take a vote....the best song sufjan has written so far, lyrically?i'm casting my vote for "to be alone with you". amazing, just amazing.
More >
Like a lot of Sufjan Stevens' music, you have to listen to the whole song in order to fully appreciate the value of what you are listening to. Seven Swans starts off slow. It tells a bizarre telling of events that somehow gets transformed (in a beautiful way) to a sort of message about religion. This message is sung beautifully. I like Sufjan Stevens' songs a lot, both none religious and religi...
More >
I love Sufjan Stevens! He has a ton of albums, but so far Seven Swans is all I've heard. Amazing stuff.
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so here I am contributing to the Albums of the Decade Blog Tour… Brought to you by: DECKFIGHT!This was kind of a difficult list for me put together. Usually I am pretty opinionated about my taste and what albums I love, but it’s a little difficult to put a list together of ONLY 10 albums that I have loved over the last 10 years.Just to give you an idea, I went through my Itunes, picking and
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 "Seven Swans")
