here comes the sun

now i'm checking out a sun came, sufjan's 2003 record. with its lyrical opening track, we are what you say, opens with sounds that bring to mind a group of minstrels playing in a mead hall. it develops into a an enormously wide collection of sounds, styles, and ideas. it's challenging compared to sufjan's later material.

the tracks demetrius and dumb i sound, mark a moment of departure into more the unusual territory on the record. this track also has touches of the medieval-sounding flutes and instrumentation that opened the record, but goes on to travel through rock, minstrel, and middle eastern sounds.

the experimentation on the album doesn't always work. sufjan could have left the track rice pudding off of the album entirely. it just doesn't come together musically, and the vocal isn't what sufjan does best as a singer. super sexy woman doesn't work very well for sufjan either. i do love one thing about it - it sounds like his tribute to the flaming lips.

ultimately, i like a sun came. i miss the beautiful orchestration of the later material, though. and i miss the banjo - one of the elements of the sufjan sound that i like most. when we finally get a touch of banjo on a sun came, it's deep into the album, on happy birthday, a pretty song that, along with a few others on the record, provides a glimpse of where sufjan is headed.