AGCS Reviews EVERY Sufjan Stevens Christmas EP - Part One

We couldn’t go through an entire Christmas Calendar without mentioning the S-word could we? And nowadays it seems Sufjan is as much a part of Christmas as mulled wine and bitter family arguments. You see, long before the indie world and his alternative dog were releasing a Christmas record, Sufjan Stevens decided to make a Christmas EP for his friends. That was 2001, and since then there’s been a Christmas EP every year (bar 2004 - I guess he might have been busy, oh, I don’t know, recording 50 odd songs about Illinois?). The first five EPs were released to the general public in 2006, while the others are either floating around the internet (Vol. VI and Vol. VIII were both leaked by some kindly individuals) or remain unheard by all but a select few (Vol. VII, Vol. IX, Vol. X?). But even with these gaps in the collection, that’s seven EPs and over 50 songs, some of a remarkably high standard. And AGCS thought it might be fun to review them all. Here is part one, which covers Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. III…

Songs For Christmas Vol. 1: Noel

Coming just months after the release of the predominantly electronic Enjoy Your Rabbit, this is by contrast a pretty muted, acoustic affair. For fans of Sufjan stripped back, this is great, but as a fan of Sufjan the musical maximalist I find this EP is the least rewarding of the collection. O Come, O Come Emmanuel is the best thing here, a gorgeous rendition of a carol Sufjan would revisit on two more occassions but never better. The two original Sufjan efforts here, We’re Goin’ To The Country and It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad, are strangely downbeat, with the vocals in the latter sounding particularly sarcastic. Both have their merits but clearly show a songwriter still in development; indeed if nothing else these EPs are a great way of charting Sufjan’s growing compositional skills. And this is good, no doubt, but there’s so much better to come. 6/10

Songs For Christmas Vol. 2: Hark!

It’s hard to believe only a year passed between these EPs. Sufjan original Put The Lights On The Tree perfectly illustrates the differences between the two, the additional orchestration and introduction of female vocals raising it above the level of anything on Noel. I Saw Three Ships is similarly joyous, with jingle bells, flute, and horns, while the six and a half minute long What Child Is This Anyway, with it’s distorted guitar and concluding choral arrangements, offers a taste of the more ambitious fare to come. Sufjan still does stripped back, and the other original composition here, Only At Christmas Time, maintains the melancholy of its predecessors. But his arrangements aren’t the only thing to have improved and even without all the bells and whistles, the improvement in his songwriting is readily apparent. There’s a lot to like on this EP, but the best has to be the stunning version of Once In Royal David’s City, which ranks alongside my favourite Sufjan songs. 8/10

Songs For Christmas Vol. 3: Ding! Dong!

If Ding! Dong! isn’t quite as consistent as it’s forerunner, it can lay claim to giving us That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!, one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful songs I’ve heard. Certainly, with the exception of the infectious glee of Come On! Let’s Boogey To The Elf Dance!, this isn’t a very happy Christmas. We Three Kings sounds particularly funereal, while even O Holy Night sounds dejected. Sufjan original All The King’s Horns is likewise a somber affair, and it’s something of a relief when the album ends on the relatively upbeat The Friendly Beasts, which features some wonderful male/female vocal interplay. In this track and That Was The Worst Christmas Ever Sufjan gets close to perfection. It’s just unfortunate that the rest of the EP can’t maintain the same level of brilliance. The sheer strength of those two songs though is undeniable, and turn a 5 or 6 out of 10 into a respectable 7/10

At this point, Sufjan took a break from his Christmas EPs, missing out the year 2004, and so it would seem appropriate for us to take a break too. Part Two will be up tomorrow and will cover Vol. IV and Vol. V, with part three, covering Vol. VI and Vol. VIII, going up on Thursday.

Oh, and if anyone has Vol. VII or Vol. IX, how about sending them over? :)

Jed. x