It has been a good long time since Sufjan Stevens has released anything along the lines of his “regular” material, putting out mainly compilation music since 2006, and as a pretty huge surprise, he has come out with “All Delighted People EP”: nearly sixty minutes of brand new stuff. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “How can new Surf Jan be called an EP if its runtime is sixty minutes?” My response to this is “Whatever. I think that’s a joke because he hasn’t made anything worth listening to since ‘Illinois’.” That, and “He’s also got a new album dropping in October that’s completely different than his past shit.” Analyzing the marketing behind this EP/album/monster is pointless at the end of the day because what you’re receiving is a collection of some really well-written music.
The bar of energy on this EP is set extremely high going into its intro track “All Delighted People”. Out of the two epics on here, it is by far the best, and probably its most powerful piece in general. The song is very derivative of the balad structure, filled with a choir and a crafty lyrical hooks of “all delighted people raise their hands” and “and the people bowed and prayed, and what difference does it make for you and me”.
The EP then continues into “Enchanting Ghost” and “Heirloom”, a couple calming spectacles in the vein of Sufjan’s outstanding albums “Michigan” and “Illinois” containing great usage of his artist staple: the banjo. He could have just made these three songs his EP, but he decided to go above what was asked for him.
“From the Mouth of Gabriel” is probably the most intriguing song on here. It functions as your typical Sufjan song from years past but he manages to incorporate some electronic elements that he is using in his next album “The Age of Adz”.
“All Delighted People (Classic Version)” is throw away and slightly unnecessary, but it’s sort of neat to see how that song can be turned inside out into one of his standard tracks for the purists. Now, “Djohariah” is probably the hardest track to listen to on here since its runtime goes for over 17 minutes. A bunch of it could get cut out but Sufjan still manages to keep the flow going because he’s in his element on this thing.
Altogether, this enormous EP is a great return for Sufjan Stevens and makes me wish he was still doing his crazy folk banjo thing instead of his song that’s reminiscent of Owl City. (see: “I Walked”)
WINNER: “All Delighted People EP” by Sufjan Stevens
WHY: Sufjan Stevens’ voice is wonderful as well as his musical composition. It’s been a good four years since a proper release and he makes one so with a sixty minute EP.
Fermata over Whole Rest 