Sufjan Stevens
Songs For Christmas

Christmas has just passed, with its heavy materialism and an omnipresent climax of family glamour… nonetheless, there's always something that overshadows the lavish prizes (gifts) and cotillons, and it's the natural dimension of the Celebration, if experienced in the humility of emotions and not just for the Sake of the Rite itself.
Some people, like me, might have been lucky enough to come across in alternative stores a splendid collective album, "All children in school," whose proceeds will be donated to build a school in Africa: it's not just a nice gesture to make to a loved one or a good deed, but also a beautiful album of ethnic music.

With some difficulty, the box set "Songs for Christmas" by Sufjan Stevens can also be found in stores, and it amazes me to know that no one has reviewed it yet: it costs very little (about 30 euros), lasts a long time, consists of 5 CDs in total with 42 songs, and needless to say, it's insanely beautiful.

Could it be a natural (or prejudicial?) mistrust towards the established tradition of Christmas albums? Well folks, you're completely wrong: unless you're stubbornly against everything related to Christmas, but this box set is a real wonder, a container of excellent music, moreover, created with minimal simplicity that disorients and fascinates even more, given its typically informal appearance.

Divided into 5 respective albums, "Noel" (2001), "Hark!" (2002), "Ding! Dong!" (2003), "Joy" (2005) and "Peace" (2006). "Songs for Christmas" is nothing more than the sum of the Christmas EPs that the singer-songwriter of "Illinoise" would gift to his children every year for Christmas. The impact is not only very pleasant, but instills a sense of true well-being, and (for once) authentic spirituality, embodying an apology of the holiday but also of winter: the enchanting pleasure of a Grimm Brothers' fairy tale in front of a burning fireplace, family harmony on a cold December day, the taste for the ancient ritual of domestic affections.

You can feel all this in these five albums, while Stevens confirms his extraordinary talent plucking acoustic notes that sometimes remind of Donovan, other times of Devendra Banhart, John Martyn, and especially of that great hermitage of adult pop that is Brian Wilson: probably, if I had to point out a reverent musical analogy in Stevens' music, I couldn't help but remember the Beach Boys of "Pet Sounds," or even the Love of "Forever Changes." But also the Irish folk (from the seventies "O come o come Emmanuel"), the XTC ("Come on! Let's boogey to the Elf Dance!"), Jonathan Richman, Satie (especially in the instrumental scores). Even Christmas classics like "Jingle bells" are revisited in a different, almost post-modern guise, while maintaining (and this is truly a magical balance) their "pure" traditionalism unchanged.

Personally, I have a soft spot for the album "Hark!", which contains the enchanting "Put the lights on the tree" sung by Stevens along with his children, and the traditional "Come thou fount of every blessing", which seems to all effects a cover of Dylan's "Will the circle be unbroken?" revisited in an acoustic key (fading finale, with Stevens' voice, like the wind, gradually fading away).

In short, here's an example of how a pleasant divertissement risks becoming the most authoritative sum of an artist's qualities, and moreover (I emphasize once again) a product of excellent craftsmanship. It would be limiting to label it as "one of the best Christmas albums of recent years," also because these songs, contrary to what one might think, once listened to, will ring for a long time in your home.

They will probably accompany you until the next spring, and for once, you will long for the winter that just passed.