Sufjan Stevens ★★★★
Seven Swans
ASTHMATIC KITTY. CD/DL/LP
Twentieth anniversary reissue of singer-songwriter’s magical mystical tour.
Andy Catlin
Mystery is key in Sufjan Stevens’ songwriting, but even by his numinous standards, 2004’s Seven Swans gestures towards something ineffably strange. Produced by Daniel Smith of the cultish Danielson Famile, Seven Swans largely picks up its cosmic static through banjo, acoustic guitar and home-spun vocals, as well as its heavy biblical content – Abraham’s spare revelations, The Transfiguration’s dance towards the light, the title track’s end-times shanty. Yet you don’t need a concordance to feel the spiritual pull of The Dress Looks Nice On You, a woodcut version of This Woman’s Work, or bonus 7-inch single track I Went Dancing With My Sister (if R.E.M. had joined a Doomsday cult while recording Document’s side two). Its impact on Generation Boygenius is clear, but Seven Swans remains a rock of Stevens’ often visionary back catalogue.