[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNUbEDPWrvw]
Sufjan Stevens really loves Christmas. While the singer-songwriter’s ambitious Michigan and Illinois albums put him on the map, it’s Silver and Gold, his second five-disc box set of holiday music, featuring nearly three hours of music, that really show where his interests lie. The album is filled with the results of Stevens’ seemingly quixotic quest to make Christmas music enjoyable. The five discs of stripped-down songs feature versions of such tired classics as “Silent Night,” “Jingles Bells” and “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” that Stevens manages to make sound fresh, exciting and downright listenable with playful melodies, deeply textured sounds and rhythms. If that’s not a Christmas miracle, we’re not sure what is.
Check out his version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.”