“A Sun Came,” Sufjan Steven’s debut album for Asthmatic Kitty Records, incorporates, in his words, “traditional pop music, medieval instrumentation with Middle Eastern inflections, tape loops, digital samples, literary vocals, manic percussion, woodwinds, sitar, amp distortion and Arabic chants.” According to Toronto’s Now weekly, he “weaves together literary references, from Greek mythology to American Transcendentalism, then combines his tales with his Captain Beefheart and Sonic Youth influenced compositions.”