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Musicians can incessantly be accused of 'selling out' when it comes to Christmas songs. While there is also a component of truth to this, there is no doubt that probably the most best Christmas songs have been sung by celebrities. Even artists who'd otherwise have no business getting within fifty feet of a Christmas song have lent their skills to bringing xmas pleasure to existence.
Casual lovers of Sufjan Stevens might assume it atypical that he is if truth be told recorded 100 Christmas songs. After all, he's easiest known for that very specific indie vibe found in motion pictures like Call Me By Your Name. However, diehard enthusiasts know he's one of the crucial prolific artists within the Christmas style. During an interview with Vulture, Sufjan Stevens defined the actual reason why he is so in love with making Christmas track...
How Many Christmas Songs Has Sufjan Stevens Made?
Sufjan Stevens first started acting and recording Christmas songs for his pals. But he quickly found out that there was a much broader target market for his interpretations of classics and difficult to understand carols, as well as his originals. In 2006, the "Visions of Gideon" singer released "Songs for Christmas", a five-volume set of tracks, that used to be a wreck among critics and fans. So he released a follow-up, "Silver and Gold: Songs For Christmas", in 2012.
If there is one thing that is certain, it is that Sufjan adores making Christmas tune. And he does it his means. Often incorporating his highly stylized tackle well-known items. But this is what makes them so particular. At the time of this writing, Sufjan Stevens has carried out, recorded, and launched 100 Christmas songs.
In his interview with Vulture, Sufjan Stevens explained that between 2000 and 2010, he changed into "invested" find and construction a catalog of Christmas track that integrated a ton of very difficult to understand carols.
"It was always a very isolated moment, usually in November-December where I would get together with some friends for a week or two and we’d create without much forethought and improvise and jump into the Christmas catalog and try and create something as quickly as possible. Sort of like first thought, best thought," Sufjan Stevens explained to Vulture.
Despite at the start making those songs for his friends and family, Sufjan defined that the "archivist" in him driven him to position those works out.
"It’s the archivist in me wanting to preserve and contain and then ultimately share the work that I had been doing that was on the periphery and for a private audience with the public audience," he explained to Vulture.
"Everything I’m doing, recording all my work, I’m constantly thinking, Is this meant to be heard and experienced by the public? Most of it isn’t, and then a lot of it is," He persisted. "Once I start thinking about the public, that’s when packaging comes into play. Then I have a project. It gives me something to do. I start to contextualize it. I think from a library-science perspective. These Christmas EPs are an interesting kind of record of history."
Why Sufjan Stevens Loves Making Christmas Music
Sufjan Stevens performed the piano in a United Methodist Church growing up and does consider himself to be a Christian. It was all through this time in his existence that he in reality turned into into the track of the holiday season and deepened his appreciation for what the time of year represents.
"There is experience there with liturgical Christmas music. I’m just kind of a hymnal collector. I have Presbyterian hymns and Methodist hymns and early music books. I have a little library," Sufjan Stevens defined all the way through an interview with Vulture. "I would just dip into that archive whenever I was working on EPs. I like to mix that kind of stuff with more contemporary secular stuff. I think as the box sets evolve, they get more and more indulged in the secular stuff."
During his interview with Vulture, Sufjan Stevens went on to mention that he enjoys taking part within the culture of Christianity and Christmas.
"The aesthetics of it, the liturgy of it, it’s a very important practice for me, but I don’t feel like it’s singular and isolating. I’m very democratic in how I live and move through the world, understanding that there are many possibilities and explanations for why we’re here," the musician explained.
"This is just my personal practice. Christmas music gets to the heart of the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane," he persevered. "Christmas music is such a madcap genre because you get the high art, the low art, the deeply sublime, and the sacrilege. You get beautiful traditional hymns about incarnation of God’s son born in a manger surrounded by animals. That’s what I love about it, is it’s completely in the public domain at this point, and there are no rules and regulations when it comes to Christmas culture."
Finally, Sufjan Stevens told Vulture how he appreciates how Christmas causes those who practice to grapple with their own mortality, whether they comprehend it or now not.
"The orthodoxy of the Christian story of the incarnation of God is that Jesus was created to be murdered. I think in celebrating that, we have to understand our own mortality," he acclaimed musician explained.
"Obviously, it’s all been appropriated, and it occurs during winter, the darkest season of the year, at least for the northern hemisphere, when we are forced to contemplate death because all of the natural world is dormant and dead. In spite of that, we drag a tree into our homes and dress it up and worship it because it gives us hope, so that we can celebrate the life that we have in spite of all of the indications of mortality surrounding us. I think that’s what it’s mostly about."
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