| | Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans CD Sufjan Stevens Discography of CDs
 (4 Customer Reviews)
Multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens made a couple of records that slipped under the radar before his third, the astoundingly lush post-rock concept album GREETINGS FROM MICHIGAN, gained him critical attention and cult status. Seemingly bent on not repeating himself, Stevens scales down MICHIGAN's grandeur to a minimalist palette for SEVEN SWANS. Where the previous album was instrumentally comparable to Tortoise or Stereolab, SEVEN SWANS is practically lo-fi, based around simply strummed acoustic guitars, banjo, organ, and hushed vocals. It's more akin to laconic Americana troubadours like Will Oldham and Iron & Wine, though no amount of sonic slimming-down can disguise Stevens's knack for crafty arrangements and accessibly quirky songs. Like-minded spirit Daniel Smith of the Danielson Family produced, and other Family members provide accompaniment that's considerably more structured than their own free-wheeling recordings.
Live Recording
Recorded at the New Jerusalem Rec Room, Clarksboro, New Jersey.
Personnel: Megan Smith (vocals); David Smith (drums).
Recording information: Daniel Smith's Home; New Jerusalem Rec Room, Clarksboro, NJ.
Personnel: Sufjan Stevens (various instruments); Daniel Smith (vocals, bass); Elin Smith, Megan Smith (vocals); Andrew Smith, David Smith (drums).
Spin (p.89) - "[T]hese florid meditations on surety and doubt are earth-shaking if you're a believer..."
Spin (p.108) - "ME FIRST slides gently rolling beats and Grandaddy-esque swoosh under irresistible choruses and slide guitar." - Grade: B+
Entertainment Weekly (3/19/04, p.66) - "His melodies are deceptively simple but utterly beguiling..." - Grade: A-
Uncut (4/04, p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 - "All the requisite signifiers are in place: spare, brittle melodies; a hushed intimacy, where every squeak of fingertip on strings resonates."
Uncut (p.74) - Ranked #24 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[A] delirious baptism of mystical chamber-pop..."
Magnet (p.109) - "The scrape of a guitar pick on wire is pristinely captured as poems of love, family and spirituality unfold....It's actually quite remarkable."
CMJ (3/15/04, p.5) - "The title track and closer 'The Transfiguration' sprawl beautifully, rounding out the record with chants so emotionally gripping it's unholy....Stevens has crafted a heavenly record."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.105) - 3 stars out of 5 - "These are blissfully executed missives of faith and love - both spiritual and corporeal - anchored by Stevens' spartan banjo-led arrangements and a voice that's tremulous yet brave." Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans Songs Seven Swans Music Review Average Rating: (4.3 out of 5 stars)   legendary
sufjan redfines folk in this magnificent piece while creating a new standard for others to follow
Submitted by Susan (Seattle Washington)
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 Breakable, good tunes
Heard him first in the Netherlands on a anti-Bush program on TV ("Singing against Bush" or something. Since then, tracking him down. Missed them in May when they were here in Amsterdam. (!!!!) I recommend track 3 and 5, "For the widows in paradise, for the fatherless in Ypsilanti" and "the upper penisula" especially because of the heartbreaking vocals by Elin Smith and Megan Smith.
Submitted by Brian Tjoe-Nij (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
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 Good
The song: To be alone with you is super! The rest of the songs Ok.
Submitted by Stefan (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
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acustic at its best
This was a gift for one I love dearly. We play it all the time. It is the perfect "stuck - in - traffic" soundtrack. It is mellow but to the point of putting you to sleep. :) very relaxing and calming.
Submitted by lmercer512 (Panama City Beach, FL USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Seven Swans CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | VH1 Presents The Corrs Live In Dublin CD (2002)
Seven Swans
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This audio document of The Corrs' Dublin homecoming concert has pretty much everything fans of Irish pop could wish for, including an appearance ...
| | Sufjan Stevens Greetings From Michigan CD (2003)
Seven Swans
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The first album to garner Sufjan Stevens considerable acclaim and attention, 2003's GREETINGS FROM MICHIGAN finds the Great Lake State-born singer-songwriter offering up an endearing and accomplished set of chamber pop songs. Designated as the beginning of Stevens's proposed "50 States" project, MICHIGAN highlights the multi-instrumentalist's penchant for lush, inventive arrangements, which ...
| | Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days CD (2004)
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Initial pressings of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS comes with a 4-song bonus CD.
While Sam Beam's self-recorded first outing as Iron & Wine, THE CREEK DRANK THE CRADLE, features a hushed bedroom ...
| | Arcade Fire Funeral CD (2004)
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This Montreal ensemble's fiery debut is marked by surging guitars, soulful strings, driving drums, brilliant bass lines, and the quavering vocals of married couple Win Butler and Regine Chassagne. The group's song structures careen through a vast territory of musical and personal history, with lyrics warm with memories of childhood neighborhoods and deceased loved ones, resulting in an alternating current of joy and ...
| | Sufjan Stevens Illinois CD (2005)
Seven Swans
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The second entry from sui generis singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens in his absurdly ambitious project to make a record for every state in America outdistances even 2003's superb GREETINGS FROM MICHIGAN in scope and beauty. A sweeping paean to the Lincoln state, ILLINOIS weaves together history, personal confession, and detail-filled scenarios with chamber folk, expansive orchestral pop, and back-porch pastoral settings for a stunningly progressive indie gem that sound like Brian Wilson, ...
| | Sufjan Stevens Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras From The Illinois Album CD (2006)
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| | Stoned Immaculate: The Music Of The Doors CD (2000)
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| | Tabla Beat Science Tala Matrix CD (2000)
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Tabla Beat Science is a Bill Laswell "Indo-futurist" project combining classical Indian tabla music with electronic beat circuitry.
Get your latte at the Calcutta cyber cafe and sit down for some foursquare Indian junglephonics. This meeting of percussive minds is curated by (who else?) the iconoclastic Bill Laswell, who ...
| | Bill Rieflin Largo CD (2001)
Seven Swans
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Largo is the realization of a project first imagined in 1990. Since then, Chris Connelly and Bill Rieflin have collaborated on 15 albums together, and have been in part responsible for some of industrial's finest moments and critical experiments, including Pigface, the Revolting Cocks, and Ministry. On Largo, Connelly and Rieflin maintain the experimental impulse of a genre they helped to define (many songs, for example, have no repeating parts), even as they eschew the electronic noise and found sounds often identified with the genre to favor instead the broad, slow sound suggested by the album's title. The result is an album much more reminiscent of their work together on the Bells and Chris Connelly's solo albums than their more industrial collaborations. "Salt of Joy," a song that first appeared on Connelly's 1991 solo album Whiplash Boychild as the "Last of Joy," is representative of Largo's progression from even this earlier work together. "Salt of Joy" eliminates the electronic interference of the original and the conspicuously processed vocals, leaving the emphasis instead on the rich beauty of Connelly's voice. Where there was static interference, there is now the sound of Reiflin's piano, subtly punctuated by the interaction of instrument and body as feet are heard manipulating ...
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| | Duane Eddy Peter Gunn CD (2006) (Import)
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