currently listening

Sufjan Stevens, after what feels like a terribly long four years, is finally putting out some new music (I'm not counting his symphonic poem about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway). He just released the All Delighted People EP and I've been unable to turn it off for the past few days. I'm unsure as to why he's calling it an "EP" (it clocks in at almost 60 minutes) but, seriously, who cares? It's incredible stuff.

When I listen to his music it often feels like a sacred experience to me. Take the track, "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti" from his Michigan album, for instance. He repeats the phrase "I'd do anything for you" until it feels like a mantra or a kyrie. I feel the same way about the title track from the album in question here which, in its initial incarnation, he expands into a symphonic poem almost 12 minutes long.

That being said, my hands-down favorite track is "The Owl and The Tanager." It's one of those songs in which you feel as if you're overhearing a whispered confession and are given something beautiful because of it.

He'll be putting out a full-length LP in October. Can't wait.