A provocative musical advent calendarโฆ
Like the indie equivalent of the Queenโs Speech, beamed in from Brooklyn rather than Buck House, Sufjan Stevensโ seasonal message-in-music has become something of an institution. Silver And Gold is a companion to his 2006 Yuletide box-set Songs For Christmas Vols. 1-5, and collates the five Christmas EPs Stevens released annually between December 2006 and December 2010.
In total there are 58 songs, ample indication that this project is much more than an extended joke. Stevens is a Christian who believes โweโve made Christmas our bitchโ, and this music, though frequently playful and dusted in silliness, ultimately has a serious, sincere purpose in attempting to divine meaning from the blizzard of confusing and contradictory signifiers โ religion, consumerism, pop culture, family, magic, tawdry reality โ which make it such a disorientating time of year.
The intent is mirrored in the scope of the material, which encompasses secular 20th-century standards, ancient seasonal hymns, classical pieces and bespoke originals. Featured composers include John Dowland, Robert Burns, Janรกฤek, Jerry Hermann, Joy Division, Bach and Sammy Cahn; collaborators include members of The National and Arcade Fire. Thereโs some latitude in the song selections โ Iโm not sure how Princeโs โAlphabet Stโ qualifies, but Iโm glad it does โ and times when Stevensโ seems to bend the concept towards a more general purpose. โBehold! The Birth Of Man, The Face Of Gloryโ and โEven The Earth Will Perish And The Universe Give Wayโ are not only archetypal Stevens song titles, but either could hold their own on Seven Swans or Illinois.
As he ping-pongs between childlike wonder, solemn contemplation, comedy, devotion, pastiche, mysticism and plain nonsense we gain insights into both Stevensโ core creative concerns and his artistic evolution over the past few years. The earliest EP, โGloriaโ, is the most folky and straightforwardly beautiful, featuring a handful of terrific collaborations with Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National. The lilting โCarol Of St Benjamin The Bearded Oneโ rather movingly recalls โthe way he brushed his beard against the cedar treeโ, while anyone who has ever wondered what constitutes a โLumberjack Christmasโ will find their answer.
The second EP, โI Am Santaโs Helperโ, deliberately goes to extremes, alternating between sacred classical works (including a glorious reading of 17th century German hymn โAh Holy Jesusโ) and increasingly skittish, deconstructed versions of the classics of the genre. Fancy hearing โJingle Bellsโ restyled as a Pixies demo with a kids chorus? Or โWe Wish You A Merry Christmasโ featuring a drunken oompah band apparently playing underwater? Or โHark The Herald Angels Singโ set to a backing track which appears to involve โHeroinโ and โBaba OโRileyโ colliding in the snow? Look no further. The later EPs, meanwhile, point towards the more experimental machine music of Stevensโ last album proper, 2010โs The Age Of Adz: โGood King Wenceslasโ and โDo You Hear What I Hear?โ celebrate Christmas Kanye style, all blippy electronics, crunched beats and vocoder-treated vocals.
Woven amongst all this is a generous number of Stevensโ originals, not always notable but lovingly rendered. โDing-A-Ring-A-Ling-A-Ringโ (โBaby Jesus is a king-a-ling-a-ling-a-lingโ) is a brilliantly sloppy T. Rex pastiche and the squelchy synth motif in โAngels We Have Heard On Highโ jauntily doffs its Santa hat to Maccaโs โWonderful Christmastimeโ, but there is poignancy, too, in โChristmas In The Roomโ โ โitโs just the two of us this yearโ โ and the bleached bad vibes of โHappy Karma Christmasโ. The entire affair concludes, epically, with โChristmas Unicornโ, a kind of cosmic manifesto disguised as a childrenโs song which incorporates โLove Will Tear Us Apartโ into its climax. Well, why not.
Something for every conceivable Christmas, in other words, but even ignoring the tinsel trim Silver And Gold is another persuasive testament to Stevensโ multi-faceted talents. Inspired, frustrating, wayward, indulgent, funny, heartfelt and eclectic, taken in one sitting itโs far too much, like gorging on the most excessive turkey dinner with all the trimmings. In smaller doses, however, itโs more like a musical advent calendar, almost every song offering a fresh and sometimes provocative window on a well-worn theme.
Graeme Thomson