Raise Your Hands!

Sufjan's back with a new EP! With the 50 States project seemingly well and truly canned, all has been a bit too quiet on the Sufjan Stevens front for too long, so the All Delighted People EP is like a bolt out of the blue. Thankfully, the wait for new material has been worth it, as what is supposedly an EP is in fact an 8-track, 50-minute epic. He never has been one to do things by halves has he?

Stylistically, All Delighted People is a mix of the old and new, and no better is that represented than on the immense title track. The inclusion of the same track twice on the same release is always a questionable move, not least when it's 10 minutes long, but the two arrangements here are so different, they could almost be different songs. The first, with its vocal acrobatics and its labyrinthine twists and turns, could almost be the Dirty Projectors, whilst the warmer musical arrangement of the second version is much more in-keeping with the Sufjan who recorded Illinois. Elsewhere, there's the usual lavish arrangements and angelic female vocals on the likes of Enchanting Ghost and From The Mouth of Gabriel, whilst the real curveball comes in the seventeen-minute Djohariah. Its opening 10 minutes of guitar-noodling would seem like a major over-indulgence were it not for the fact that it's just one element of an exhilirating build-up, that breaks away suddenly into a surprisingly spare track.

All riveting stuff, and all for the very wallet-friendly price of $5. All Delighted People is currently available to stream on Sufjan's bandcamp page. Welcome back Sufjan!

UPDATE: There's a new Sufjan LP on the way too! The Age Of Adz comes out on October 12th on Asthmatic Kitty Records.