Customer Reviews

A Sun Came

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked up this CD after falling in love with Greetings from Michigan and found it to be a completely different, and quite interesting, recording. With a slightly more "rock" vibe than some of Sufjan's later CDs, A Sun Came! paints with a broad palate of musical textures; several of the songs can easily stand alone as mini-epics (esp. "We Are What You Say" and "A Winner Needs A Wand"). Being Sufjan's first CD, he especially deserves a lot of credit for his eclectic arrangements and instrumentation.

On a side note, I noticed an occasional pre-Mellow Gold Beck feel on some of the songs such as "Demetrius" and "Super Sexy Woman," largely due to the scratchy, atonal guitars and falsetto harmonies. Additionally, A Sun Came! also features short snippets of strange dialogue between songs and a couple noise excursions ("Rice Pudding" "Satan's Saxophones") akin to some of Beck's work before cleaning up his act. As a result, the album is a push-and-pull between astounding creative originality and somewhat derivative noise experiments. Overall, it is definatly essential listening for fans of Sufjan--and I'd also recommend fans of Beck's early work to check it out.

There's a reason why some people throw their lives into indie music - it's because mainstream music tends to offer very few new ideas. Soon, one becomes enraptured in the lush history of bands like Pavement, the Flaming Lips, and even more obscure acts like Oval and nostalgic lost acts like the Flying Machine. Yet, then comes across one artist that just throws everything into perspective all over again.

And Sufjan Stevens does just that.

In the course of 4 short albums, he's proven that he is a new undaunted master of folk music, but transcends convention time and time again. While "Michigan" and "Seven Swans" are both albums of lush, sweet beauty (and depression as well, to be fair), nothing comes to match his powerful, dirty, experimental yet still resoundingly sound debut album, "A Sun Came."

He throws in childish voice-altered interludes here and there (which actually BLATANTLY RECALL those on Beck's "Stereopathic Soul Manure" LP), adding to the odd whimsy of the album. Yes, he does add some blatant throwaway tracks ("Satan's Saxophones" and "Rice Pudding"), which are just experimental instrumental noodling. The interludes aren't all that bad - they use absurdist humor to break up the dramtic flow and serve as well-placed "restart" buttons for the listener. Because sometimes they're needed ...

... simply because you are overwhelmed by the music. Layers upon layers of acoustic guitars, woodwinds, panpipes, and countless other instruments are mixed together in a startling array of melody. Best example of this is "A Winner Needs a Wand" - pianos lead to a dark acoustic melody, which in turn leads to flutes and pipes blaring in during the chorus, a stream of voices near the climax and a near heavy-metal guitar outro - and it all makes sense. The sweet "lost tape" sound of "Happy Birthday" proves to be almost heartbreaking each time you listen. The mostly instrumental "Wordsmith's Ridge" could easily be used for the emotional climax of some unmade film, and the blissfully irrelevant and stupidly fun "Super Sexy Woman" shows that it's not full-on seriousness all the time.

Sufjan gets most interesting when he experiments within the confines of conventional melody. As a matter of fact, "Demetrius" and "The Oracle Said Wander" sound almost EXACTLY like Pavement B-sides. The distorted vocals and propulsive drums of "Jason" create a haunting effect. And, best of all, the song that sounds like NOTHING else on the album (though only available on the re-release) is a little ditty called "Joy! Joy! Joy!" - it's a melodious electro-stomp of a number that's as excitable and state-of-the-art as any dance song out there but still bounded in Sufjan's simple vocals and human warmth.

All of this goes before mentioning his lyrics, which go from absurd to profoundly meaningful in a heartbeat. If you need further proof of his lyrical brilliance, simply listen to "Rake."

Even with the few failed experiments, the seemingly inappropiate humor, and attempts to jump all over the place, this album is in a class by itself - it's a powerful, haunting, infinitely repeatable album that reveals more with each listen. It may be a bit inaccessible at first, but, given time, this can grow to be an all-time favorite.

I recently saw Sufjan Stevens perform live in Portland. I was so thrilled to learn that his lush vocals are strong and not reliant on studio help. I had already grown quite fond of "Michigan" and "Seven Swans" and was unsure of what to expect from this first / rereleased album but my expectations were high.

The album starts out strong - the first three tracks are highly enjoyable. There is a celtic feel throughout many of the tracks which is enjoyable and ties many of the tracks together. I find the skits somewhat bothersome and rather unecessary, but I am able to look past it and enjoy the rest of the tracks.

More than half the tracks are 5 Star worthy, which makes this album essential for any fan of Sufjan.

Three stars for the music, one star for the artwork.

While the music definately has the Sufjan touch, it feels raw and underdeveloped in comparisson to Michigan and Seven Swans. There are annoying little skits and songs that feel like "joke songs." Perhaps the worst songs feel like nothing more than a bad Captain Beefheart parody.

After all the filler is culled out, you've got ten to twelve songs, which range from decent to great. They have a middle eastern flair to them, which adds to the charm. Some of the best songs are in the first four tracks of the album, including the infectious chorus of that Rake song.

The artwork has a great mythology feel to it, however, that is trumped by the simply stunning picture inside of a seemingly unrelated female (the credits list her as the photographer... but how many photographers get their own picture in an album they didn't make?).

All in all the album is a good pick up for Sufjan fans, though I wouldn't reccomend it until getting "Michigan" and "Seven Swans".

Sufjan Steven's "A Sun Came" is an album that can truly captivate the senses. It works well as an album you can listen to in the dark with your eyes closed and your mind intensely focused on the music, for when you listen to it, you really have to listen deep to take it all in. The complexity of sound that weaves together in "A Sun Came" is rather remarkable, as long as you listen to the cd with open ears. A lot of the music may come as a shock to fans who picked up on Stevens work from "Seven Swans" or "Michigan", however I don't intend this to mean that this is an under-developed debut. Sufjan Stevens presents this album with startling originality, sometimes giving you music that soothes, and other times music that you can't help but giggle at. Although I'm not sure of Sufjan's intention, it seems to me that this album was intended to be a very experimental debut, however it's a great listen for both people just getting to know the works of Sufjan Stevens, and also people who own the more recent releases and are looking for some back-tracks.

talking about this album for a long time in a couple of years. I say that because it will probably take a couple of years for people to realize that Sufjan has 2 other albums besides "Michigan" and "Seven Swans" and probably another couple of years for people to actually listen to A Sun Came (his 1st album). I would describe A Sun Came as a rock album by form, but Sufjan's material is more abstract than "Michigan" and "Seven Swans." Songs like "Super Sexy Woman," "The Oracle said wonder," and "Jason" sounds to have more of a sonic youth/pavement influence than anything else. With that, this album does show the initial signs of harmony and melody so cherished on "Michigan" and "Seven Swans." "Year of the Rabbit" Sufjan's 2nd album dives more into exploring harmonies and melodies through electronics, but I'll save that discussion for a rainy day. This album is a wonderful display of the talent that Sufjan has shown consistently through-out his career. So, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it!!! Get it, listen to it, and realize for yourself why Sufjan Stevens is a brilliant musician...

Sufjan Stevens, a musical guiness and former member of Hope Michigan's Marzuki, takes you on a musical journey with his mind blowing, jam packed CD with over 72 minutes of music. A perfect balance between electric and acoustic insturments. Playing nearly every insturment on every track, he presents you with a musical piece of art where every layer (or sound) plays an intrical part to that specific song, no matter how loud or soft that sound happened to be. Place on top of that, Sufjan's harmonizing voice singing out his poetic lyrics. By breaking new ground by making a sound that I find unique to only himself, I can't even think of another group to relate Sufjan's Stevens music too. And that's why I love this CD.

First off, I love Sufjan's work. However, this first album oftentimes does little to indicate the future awesome-ness of Sufjan Stevens' catchy, folksy songs. Some parts drag. Some parts make me cringe. Overall, though, this is a worthy buy for fans of Mr. Stevens' work.

3 1/2

Proving to be ultra ambitious ever since day one as far as album releasing was concerned, Steven's low-fi massive debut will be a treat for any fan, but for first timers should be avoided in favor of his newer releases. Mixing his folk roots with early alternative, electronic and world music, anyone listening to Sufjan, would at least take notice, if not necessarily start the celebration just yet. The eclectic songwriter is as unhinged as ever, sometimes wiping distorted chaos into whispered ballad with the ease of a pro, you could already see the vast production intuition amongst the youthful vibe. Although many of these songs do seem adolescent when compared to his further releases, one must at least acknowledge that this is some of the most intelligent adolescent instrumentation that someone so young, yet so open to play, could produce in our sad market.

Sufjan Stevens is an indie legend now, with brilliant album after brilliant album, right up to the recent "Songs for Christmas." But he started with the sparkling indie-rock of "A Sun Came," a colourful collection of his relatively early songs -- it's rougher than his other stuff, but still overflows with talent and beauty.

It opens with the slightly medieval flavour of "We Are What You Say," with a stately flute-and-tambourine melody. Sufjan solemnly announces that "we are a servant/we have a song" and finishing up with the reverant "The Spirit is life/We are what You say," right before the music swirls off into a mad tangle of Renaissance acid-folk.

Things get indie-rockier with the catchy flute-and-guitar of "A Winner Needs a Wand," grimy "Demetrius," and the breathless, ghostly folk tune of "Rake." From there on, Stevens explores a half dozen different styles: fuzzy indiepop, more medievalish folk-rock, sparkling lo-fi stuff, glitchpop, shimmering rock, sweeping synth-folk, a sitar dance tune, and much more.

A lot of artists don't really know what they're doing when they first start out, or what kind of music they'll be most talented at. Given that Sufjan Stevens explores at least a dozen kinds of music in "A Sun Came," all completely different, it's pretty clear that he was exploring the styles.

And for the most part, he's successful -- there are some weird moments, like the awkward Beckesque "Super Sexy Woman," but far more like "Joy! Joy! Joy!", a mad squiggle of blips that rearrange into a shimmering, scratchy little pop tune. The different styles are tied together with Stevens' unique flourishes -- oddball synth, smooth acoustic guitar, and mellow piano, as well as some indie-rock grind, bells, keyboard, sweet flute and some odd scratches.

His lyrics are laced with religous references ("I would serve the Kingdom's will"), but Stevens doesn't make it in-your-face. It's a part of his music, because it's part of him. His songwriting skills are rather immature here (lots of very similar and/or repeated lines), but his beautifully smooth voice is almost enough to compensate.

Sufjan Stevens made a heartfelt, exquisite debut in "A Sun Came," full of shimmering indie-folk-pop and colourful instrumentation. A must-have, right before you get his other albums.