All Delighted People EP

Sufjan Stevens | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Label: Asthmatic Kitty
• Copyright: Copyright 2010 Asthmatic Kitty
• Total Length: 59:29
• Genres:
• ASIN: B00406525S
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,470 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dense, mostly brilliant music, August 24, 2010

By 

Evan Staley (Spokane, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Delighted People EP (MP3 Download)

I like Sufjan a lot. His lyrics have such a wonderful way of drawing me into intimate stories before yanking me back out to take a look at my own life, America, God, and much more. His music, as he describes it, is often the perfect combination of high art and low art, merging the warmth of folk music with the grandiose of a symphony orchestra. When these elements are at full effect as they are throughout much of Illinois, Michigan, and Seven Swans, he hits me like few others can.

Then there are moments where his ambitions seem to run off and leave me in the cold emotionally. Long, flute-heavy instrumentals, while still technically impressive, never connect for me the same way he does in simpler moments like his astounding Casimir Pulaski Day.

As you might expect, this EP (which only maybe qualifies as such based on its hour-long run time) leans a little more toward the latter style. The title tracks are a suitably epic ode to the apocalypse, which I can't claim to have fully absorbed yet. The Owl and the Tanager is a gorgeous piano-driven song, and the closing track a 17 minute guitar song for single mothers. The point is, this is some eccentric and wildly creative stuff. Fortunately for fans, it's also really really good once you take the time to get into it.

I'd also highly recommend streaming it off his site at [...] before buying it. Enjoy!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delighted, August 25, 2010

By 

Steven Elliott (Orland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Delighted People EP (MP3 Download)

To call "All Delighted People" an e.p. is a bit of a misnomer. Since the music clocks in at over 60 minutes - much longer than many "full length" recordings (l.p.'s?) - it must simply refer to the relatively few number of tracks (by Sufjan's standards). Many of us probably expected Sufjan to spend the rest of his life finishing his promising "50 States" project. It's obvious by now, that aint happenin'. But that is no cause for disappointment. Anyone familiar with Sufjan's music knows that the only thing you can expect from him is for him to defy expectations, anyway. This latest installment is no exception. While it steps back from the edgy, purely instrumental offering of The B.Q.E., it is easy to see the musical ancestry from that recording to this. What strikes me more than anything on "All Delighted People" is Sufjan's obvious vocal development since his last vocal offering. Known for his soft, plaintively beautiful vocals, Sufjan actually sounds like he is straining himself to reach new heights on this recording. Combined with his "everything-including-the-kitchen-sink musical approach, the results are exciting (not always the first adjective that comes to mind in describing his music), pleasing and impressive. Sufjan is always forging new territory creatively, so you can be assured you won't hear anything else quite like this all year.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thousand lights abounded on our hall, November 15, 2010

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Delighted People EP (MP3 Download)

Sufjan Stevens is one of those few artists who can truly stun you with just how passionate and talented he is. Need an example? Take the shimmering, enchantingly lovely "All Delighted People EP," which is actually longer than many full-length albums -- colorful folk pop, warbly vocals, and a strong religious slant.

"Tomorrow you'll see it through/The clouded out disguises put you in the room," Stevens sings mournfully in "All Delighted People (original)," which drifts between soft, bittersweet folk-rock and an epic song of soaring angelic choirs and sweeping strings.

As if the music wasn't good enough, Stevens sings of overcoming inner fear, doubt and hypocrisy ("I tried my best I tried in vain/Oh! But the world is a mess! Oh! But the world is a mess!"). There's also a brass-soaked "classic-rock" version of the title track, which sounds far more cheerful despite having the same lyrics.

I think my brain would explode if the entire album was like that, so fortunately the next songs are less intense. Instead, Stevens relies on soft piano-led melodies, earthy guitar folk, twinkly soaring little ballads (from the POV of God?), and murky experimental ballads. And it ends with "Djohariah," a seventeen-minute rock epic of squiggling synth, trumpets and melancholy guitar.

"All Delighted People" is an almost perfect example of what Sufjan Stevens can do. Without losing sight of his classic sound (the classic rock "All Delighted People" made me flash back to his first album), Stevens manages to expand his sound to include some new, spellbinding musical journeys. The first song is a trip all on its own!

In fact, there's only one song that didn't blow me away: "The Owl and the Tanager," which isn't bad so much as kind of... musically slow.

His music centers mostly on folk-rock rhythms, with lots of acoustic guitar and piano. But many of the melodies are dressed up with colorful sonic garlands -- plucked harp, violins, flittering/squiggling synth, and blasts of brass. And there are those crystalline vocals that soar up in "All Delighted People (original)" and "From The Mouth of Gabriel," as if he's getting some angelic backing.

Speaking of which, Stevens inserts gentle Christian undercurrents into a few of the songs -- not the "rah rah Jesus is awesome!" type, but haunting explorations of sorrow, fear and humanity. The rest of the EP is about love -- rejected love, shattered love , lost love ("And if it grieves you to stay here, just go... For I have no spell on you, it's all a ghost"), and love for someone who has been betrayed.

The "All Delighted People EP" is not only longer than most full-length albums, but it's a layered, exquisite little collection of songs that deserves repeated listens. All delighted people, raise your hands.