AGCS Reviews EVERY Sufjan Stevens Christmas EP - Part Three

Since the release of the Songs For Christmas box set in 2006, Sufjan has recorded four more Christmas EPs (and who knows, the fifth could already be in the hands of this year’s lucky few). Of these only Vol. VI and Vol. VIII have found their way into the wider world; as for other two, we can only speculate as to what they may contain. I have it on very good authority that Vol. VII coincided with a short-lived death metal phase and Sufjan’s delicate falsetto was temporarily replaced with a gutteral pig squeal. And while I obviously just made that up, the fact remains that we just don’t know what those EPs sound like. More’s the pity.

Anyway, while it would obviously be lovely to have the complete set of Sufjan’s Songs For Christmas there’s no point dwelling upon it, so lets get back to the issue at hand…

Vol. VI: Gloria

As if it wasn’t enough to record the astounding Vol. V: Peace in the middle of 2006, Sufjan decided to have another go at a Christmas EP later on in the year, teaming up with The National’s Dessner Brothers for Gloria. And while it doesn’t quite match its predecessor it’s still a great entry into the Songs For Christmas canon. Lumberjack Christmas / No One Can Save You From Christmasses Past takes the form of a country-esque hoedown, and as Sufjan admits, “the music’s kind of cheesy”. But when the song changes direction half way through a fun song becomes one of the EPs highlights. It’s beaten to the top spot though by Barcelona (You Must Be A Christmas Tree), one of Sufjan’s best Christmas songs with a truly affecting lyric. If there’s a problem with the rest of the EP, it’s over-familiarity; these are good songs, they just don’t offer much we haven’t already heard. But criticising these songs for sounding too much like “standard” Sufjan is a bit harsh when he gives us songs as gorgeous as The Midnight Clear and Silent Night. 8/10

Vol. VIII: Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage

The title alone is enough to indicate this is a departure from the rest of the Christmas EPs, with one word titles and faithful renditions of carols abandoned for a far more experimental sound. When it succeeds it creates some of the best songs across this collection; but when it fails, boy does it fail far. It helps to view the EP as a practice run for Age Of Adz, released halfway though sessions for that record. Seen from this perspective, the barely listenable synth noodling of Angels We Have Heard On High, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear and Good King Wenceslas are a good thing, Sufjan curbing the worst excesses of his electronic dalliance and saving the good stuff for the main attraction. And while those three are some of the worst songs Stevens has recorded, Do You See What I See is far more effective, the song’s synth bleeps humanized by a stunning vocal take. Christmas In The Room eschews the electronics for a maudlin piano ballad which ranks alongside the likes of That Was The Worst Christmas Ever and Sister Winter. The best is saved for the end though, with the eight minute long Joy To The World managing to find a balance between synth madness and choral beauty. That this is followed by The Child With The Star On His Head, a sprawling epic which ranks among Sufjan’s very best songs, more than accounts for the EPs misfires. 8/10

And that’s all for now, so what did we learn? Well, that despite the occassional clunker and a few pretty average tracks, there’s some astounding stuff in these EPs. I’m sure you knew that already, but it’s a point that bears repeating, because remember kids; A Sufjan is a for life, not just for Christmas.

Jed.