SONGS FOR CHRISTMAS

PLAYLISTS
• Songs for Christmas on YouTube and Spotify
• 3 Songs From Home on YouTube

Indie artist Sufjan Stevens has been recording since 2000 and has produced two Christmas collections as well as 10 solo albums and several collaborations

SONGS FOR CHRISTMAS

Seasonal tunes from across the continent and down the street

Sufjan Stevens

Based in upstate New York, indie artist Sufjan Stevens is a singer-songwriter known for working in various genres while putting his multi-instrumental talents to work. He’s often playing all the parts on his various compositions on the 10 solo albums he’s released since 2000. His sounds have ranged from symphonic pieces to lo-fi folk, electronica as well as the unique mostly acoustic takes on his two collections of yuletide songs.

Today’s post presents his first Xmas collection, Songs for Christmas. The 5-disc EP set was issued in 2006 and recorded over five years. It counts 42 songs and runs just over two hours.

Online magazine Allmusic has this to say: “Songs for Christmas is nothing if not eclectic. A whole sleigh-load of carols and original tunes collected from 2001 to 2006, these songs were written and recorded off the cuff, and naturally many of them feel a little ragged and underdone.

” … there are moments of quirky holiday splendor that make plowing through the entire five-EP set a pleasure… “O Holy Night” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel” are deeply affecting, especially because they rely on Stevens’ idiosyncratic arrangements and frail voice.”

optimalprint.ie

Henk Suys

My retired neighbour Henk Suys lives a few blocks down the street. We share a Dutch heritage and a love of music. He’s been writing and recording acoustic guitar-based tunes for several years including the three seasonal-themed numbers he’s sharing with Kurated.

Henk says: “I’ve been writing songs for some time now, but it took a while to realize songwriting was no longer a back-burner hobby. It’s become a passion. I am decidedly old-school. I use an ancient Tascam 8-track recorder, and keep telling myself that some of the best Beatle songs were done on a 4-track.

“Mind you they had George Martin and several top line engineers to keep it all together. I like how songs work… verses and choruses and sometimes a bit of instrumentation in the middle. The hard part is definitely the lyrics. After all, songs are poems set to music. As my singing and performance skills are limited, my recordings are demos of the songs, so others can possibly pick up where I left off.

“As a songwriter we get very little reward since the world of music is too big to care. But I love it when people say they find themselves humming along with one of my songs and get it stuck in their brain for a while.”

Kurated is a music sharing project.

14 December 2024