Billed as an EP but clocking in at sixty minutes (seriously), 'All Delighted People' is a sort of prologue to Sufjan Stevens' gorgeous 'The Age Of Adz' album, and explores elements of his sound we haven't heard in a while. Thankfully the haphazard sense of experimentation we witnessed on 'Enjoy Your Rabbit' and 'A Sun Came' is back on 'All Delighted People' as wonky electronic elements pop up between flutes, strings, guitars and of course Stevens' near-effortless vocal nuances. More traditional moments such as the piano led 'The Owl And The Tanager' sit alongside deliriously orchestrated slices of madness such as 'From The Mouth Of Gabriel' and while the result is choppy, it shows a great porthole into Stevens' psyche. Maybe this is exactly why 'All Delighted People' was billed as an EP, as the shackles Stevens had put on himself seem lifted somehow by the format. The record's finale is possibly one of his most ambitious pieces to date - a seventeen-minute blowout that reaches near-prog orchestral rock excess. In the wrong hands this could be a huge misstep, but Sufjan Stevens knows exactly how to engineer his flamboyance into something enjoyable and intelligent, rather then ending up on something drab and throwaway. It's good to have you back Sufjan - now what about that promise? Only forty-eight states to go, mate.
View more
Billed as an EP but clocking in at sixty minutes (seriously), 'All Delighted People' is a sort of prologue to Sufjan Stevens' gorgeous 'The Age Of Adz' album, and explores elements of his sound we haven't heard in a while. Thankfully the haphazard sense of experimentation we witnessed on 'Enjoy Your Rabbit' and 'A Sun Came' is back on 'All Delighted People' as wonky electronic elements pop up between flutes, strings, guitars and of course Stevens' near-effortless vocal nuances. More traditional moments such as the piano led 'The Owl And The Tanager' sit alongside deliriously orchestrated slices of madness such as 'From The Mouth Of Gabriel' and while the result is choppy, it shows a great porthole into Stevens' psyche. Maybe this is exactly why 'All Delighted People' was billed as an EP, as the shackles Stevens had put on himself seem lifted somehow by the format. The record's finale is possibly one of his most ambitious pieces to date - a seventeen-minute blowout that reaches near-prog orchestral rock excess. In the wrong hands this could be a huge misstep, but Sufjan Stevens knows exactly how to engineer his flamboyance into something enjoyable and intelligent, rather then ending up on something drab and throwaway. It's good to have you back Sufjan - now what about that promise? Only forty-eight states to go, mate.
Billed as an EP but clocking in at sixty minutes (seriously), 'All Delighted People' is a sort of prologue to Sufjan Stevens' gorgeous 'The Age Of Adz' album, and explores elements of his sound we haven't heard in a while. Thankfully the haphazard sense of experimentation we witnessed on 'Enjoy Your Rabbit' and 'A Sun Came' is back on 'All Delighted People' as wonky electronic elements pop up between flutes, strings, guitars and of course Stevens' near-effortless vocal nuances. More traditional moments such as the piano led 'The Owl And The Tanager' sit alongside deliriously orchestrated slices of madness such as 'From The Mouth Of Gabriel' and while the result is choppy, it shows a great porthole into Stevens' psyche. Maybe this is exactly why 'All Delighted People' was billed as an EP, as the shackles Stevens had put on himself seem lifted somehow by the format. The record's finale is possibly one of his most ambitious pieces to date - a seventeen-minute blowout that reaches near-prog orchestral rock excess. In the wrong hands this could be a huge misstep, but Sufjan Stevens knows exactly how to engineer his flamboyance into something enjoyable and intelligent, rather then ending up on something drab and throwaway. It's good to have you back Sufjan - now what about that promise? Only forty-eight states to go, mate.
Billed as an EP but clocking in at sixty minutes (seriously), 'All Delighted People' is a sort of prologue to Sufjan Stevens' gorgeous 'The Age Of Adz' album, and explores elements of his sound we haven't heard in a while. Thankfully the haphazard sense of experimentation we witnessed on 'Enjoy Your Rabbit' and 'A Sun Came' is back on 'All Delighted People' as wonky electronic elements pop up between flutes, strings, guitars and of course Stevens' near-effortless vocal nuances. More traditional moments such as the piano led 'The Owl And The Tanager' sit alongside deliriously orchestrated slices of madness such as 'From The Mouth Of Gabriel' and while the result is choppy, it shows a great porthole into Stevens' psyche. Maybe this is exactly why 'All Delighted People' was billed as an EP, as the shackles Stevens had put on himself seem lifted somehow by the format. The record's finale is possibly one of his most ambitious pieces to date - a seventeen-minute blowout that reaches near-prog orchestral rock excess. In the wrong hands this could be a huge misstep, but Sufjan Stevens knows exactly how to engineer his flamboyance into something enjoyable and intelligent, rather then ending up on something drab and throwaway. It's good to have you back Sufjan - now what about that promise? Only forty-eight states to go, mate.