The Culture Beat

Sufjan Stevens is one of the quiet success stories among Christians who perform for general audiences, i.e., beyond the Contemporary Christian Music scene. In fact, he’s well-ensconced in his own singular style that mixes acoustic (including his banjo), folk, minimalist, some electric and quite a bit of percussive elements into a unique style. His hand-made productions are the result of recording his performances at home for his independent label and thus lack the smooth studio sound most listeners are accustomed to. Whatever the secret of his appeal, critics and and a sizable audience have paid attention and Stevens has quite a following. Stevens’ gentle singing has an intimacy that effectively draws in listeners into his songs, some of them apparently startling autobiographical scenes of raw honesty. This bittersweet tone coupled with witty exclamation-pointed song titles such as “Come On! Feel The Illinoise!” from the Illinoise album, the second of a proposed series of discs on the states of the union provides the diversity within Stevens signature style. Some cuts are instrumental and many feature marvelous vocal harmonizing. Stevens’ poetic and meditative strengths lend his music a gravity and challenge the listener to ponder the lyrics. On the Illinoise album, his ballad on the serial killer “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” delves into the horror of the man’s predations on his boy victims and then Stevens’ turns his gaze on his own heart’s darkness and denies there is much difference. In other words, he looks at life out of a perspective steeped in scripture.

In Songs for Christmas, Stevens presents in one package a series of five extended play discs recorded over the last five years that mix Christmas classics with his own compositions. The result is a refreshing reintroduction to beloved music that allows you to enjoy these songs all over again. Wary of what Stevens calls “that Creepy Christmas Feeling” we get from seeing the celebration of Jesus’ birth exploited for commercial gain, his musical goal is to quiet down the stress and clamor and retake the holiday’s mixture of the divine and human, when Immanuel came to us to dwell in mortal flesh.

The 41 song album has been selling at unanticipated levels and last week Amazon got more in their inventory but then went out of stock again so you may need to look around for it. In the meantime, go to the link above for streaming versions of all five EPs and see what you think of Songs for Christmas.