Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
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Free Music Notes for Seven Swans
Free Music Review: Great CD
Hit: 5 Stars
I got this CD for christmas and have listened to it several times. I love every song and like the fact that Sufjan speaks openly about his faith in Jesus. He does it in such a manner where he doesn't affend people, but lets you know what he is really about. Favorite track is number 4Free Music Review: A gift
Hit: 5 Stars
More than any CD I've listened to in recent memory, Seven Swans has burrowed into my ears and brain and heart and soul. It's melodies are addictive and haunting -- I promise you if you listen once, you will remember at least one of these wonderfully quirky songs.
Imagine Bela Fleck, Dave Carter, Donovan, Phillip Glass and Emo Phillips(!) collaborating on a project and you will get a feel for what a treasure awaits you.
Free Music Review: beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
I absolutely love several songs on this album. And I think this album is one of my favorite purchases this year --- the instrumentation is so diverse and interesting and the songs are lyrically brilliant and full of wonderful melodies. My only reservations have to do with the Christian subtext to some of it --- though even that is really tasteful and original. And after all, there are many many brilliant artists that incorporate religious ideas into their music...Dylan is the first to come to mind.
Glad I found this one.
Free Music Review: Soft and beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
Sufjan's voice, coupled with his lonesome banjo will soothe the wildest beast within us. Heartfelt songs and great storytelling cover the album from head to toe. Sufjan is the kinder, gentler Iron and Wine. For fans of the latter, Dolorean, Songs:Ohia, and Appendix Out. Free Music Review: Consistently brilliant
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm going to go out on a limb here (in as far as that it's only November) and say that Seven Swans is the best record to come out all year. Sufjan Stevens has out-done just about everyone else with his simple, banjo-based folk album.
The reason that this album works so well is that it's easy and entertaining to listen to but also complicated enough that it never grows tiring. Stevens is a skilled composer with a good sense of melody, and his arrangements are great. Everything that is used here is used well, especially the banjo and various vocal accompaniments. As he did with Michigan, Stevens uses the female voice to great effect.
All of the songs have lyrics that relate directly or indirectly to Christianity, but a comparison between Seven Swans and it's wholly unlike most overtly religious music. Never once is the religious aspect of these songs, most of which explore the differences between the attitudes of man and the attitudes of God, overbearing or limiting; only the bitterest atheist of them all could be bothered by it. Listening to the lyrics, it's no surprise that Stevens spent quite a few years studying literature and creative writing, because there's a sense of poetic structure here goes well beyond that seen on most albums.
Structure is important not only for the individual songs, but for the album as a whole; the way that the tracks are sequenced provides a great sense of rising and falling action. This album is definitely best when experienced in its entirety in a single sitting. Early songs are somewhat lively, but the album slows down toward the middle, picks up again, and then goes all out with two absolutely spectacular epics at the end. "Seven Swans" and "The Transfiguration play out like summaries of the entire album, using all of the tools that made the earlier songs so great and increasing the energy to a level that Stevens's earlier material only hinted at.
There have been some great songs written this year, but nobody has put together a full album that is as consistent and consistently-intriguing as Sufjan Stevens has.