When dear Sufjan will you release something new to win our hearts and awake once again the great creative spirit you once stirred in all of us? When dear Sufjan will you admit that maybe, possibly, you’ve abandoned the idea that each and every state will eventually be blessed by your musical musings? When dear Sufjan will we ever hear anything new from you? Will you even tour again?
I bring you this song today for a multitude of reasons. The first is that I quite honestly think this track, Sister Winter, might be the best seasonal song ever recorded. There is a sense of winter, of desolate snow filled afternoons, of cold bitter winds, and the loss or death oft associated with this cold season, that permeates every layer of this song. In the vocals, in the harmony, in the string section, and the lyrics; winter is there. In the crescendo of the bridge there is a brief hope for spring and the new year that this blustery affair so casually ushers into our lives. There is Christmas, happiness, and sleigh bells and yet even they serve as but a brief reprieve in the middle of a long, cold, perfect winter.
mp3 : Sufjan Stevens – Sister Winter
There are three other reasons I’m dropping this song today. The first is that in all my moving around over the past three weeks I left my external hard drive back where I used to live. It’s hard to upload tracks and review new albums when they’re all sitting trapped on a drive three hours away {don’t worry, I’ll be getting it this upcoming Christmas}. The second is that almost all of my free music time {mostly my driving time and some work time} has been devoted to paring down my end of the year list. As it currently stands I might have found a way to choose a simple ten albums, but I’ve been giving all of the twenty two albums in my short list at least two listens each {and that’s a lot of music}. The third reason is that I’ve simply been very busy lately and I don’t yet have a place that I can call my own. I’m still crashing at a mate’s house and looking forward to picking up my own place {hopefully this weekend after my first paycheck is deposited}.
Fret not, TWF will return to a more regularly scheduled broadcast in the near future. In the meantime wait patiently with great anticipation for my return. Well, that and listen to Sister Winter on constant repeat for at least an hour.
As usual you can find this track on Sufjan’s peerless Songs For Christmas (itunes).
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The World Forgot 