Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
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Free Music Notes for Seven Swans
Free Music Review: Another great album from Sufjan!
Hit: 4 Stars
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!Free Music Review: Kickass
Hit: 5 Stars
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.Free Music Review: definitely surprising
Hit: 5 Stars
after buying and liking (not loving) Greetings... I still decided to buy Seven Swans. I am not unhappy with my purchase. In fact, I am very happy. Although its missing the "Oh my gosh" good songs that Greetings had...the lack of minus high and low points makes this cd more of a pop-it-in-and-its-all-good pick.Free Music Review: Sublime. Essential.
Hit: 5 Stars
The simple, spare structure of these beautiful, even haunting songs belies an emotional complexity and impact that grows more evident with each listen. Sufjan Stevens is like Elliott Smith and Nick Drake in that respect. There is a beautiful vulnerability in this music. I was lucky enough to hear him perform live recently and, like me, the crowd was mesmerized by the delicate power of his music. One of the few "must-have" discs of the year so far.Free Music Review: Acoustic precision
Hit: 4 Stars
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.