Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Worst Christmas Ever!’ Has Arrived
Out today: Sufjan Stevens’ Worst Christmas Ever!, featuring 15 holiday essentials selected from more than 100 recordings across the box sets Songs for Christmas and Silver & Gold. With a holiday catalog this deep, the album is intended as an accessible and affordable point of entry, available on LP, CD and cassette for yourself or as a gift for anyone special on your shopping list.
The album also includes the new single “On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better),” Stevens’ first new Christmas song written, produced, and performed entirely by himself in nearly 15 years.
THE BACKSTORY
Sufjan started writing and recording Christmas music in 2001 with the original intent of making a few Christmas gifts for family and friends. He didn’t initially plan for those early songs to start a snowball eventually leading to nearly five hours of Christmas songs. Each time he worked on these, the process was the same: One week in December, usually at home, he’d pull in friends, roommates, or musical peers; whoever was around. In 2006, Asthmatic Kitty Records collected the first five volumes as Songs for Christmas, Vols. 1-5, and in 2012, released Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10, compiling five more EPs recorded between 2006 and 2010.
Worst Christmas Ever! pulls from across both. The perennial fan favorites are there: “Sister Winter,” “Put The Lights On The Tree,” “Only At Christmas Time,” and the title track, “That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!” So is “Justice Delivers Its Gift,” Sufjan’s ecclesiastical take on the Burl Ives classic “Silver & Gold,” “Christmas In The Room,” “Silent Night” and others.
The volumes these songs come from were made with a long running cast of collaborators, including Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire, Cat Martino, Gabriel Kahane, Casey Foubert, James McAlister, Rosie Thomas, Marla Hansen, Olivier Manchon, Sebastian Krueger, and Daniel, Elin, Lilly, and Ida Smith of Danielson.
Speaking to Vulture about his holiday catalog, Sufjan put it plainly: “There are no rules and regulations when it comes to Christmas culture.” His unguarded enthusiasm for the genre itself, the freedom he takes in celebrating with both reverence and rebellion, and his belief that Christmas music holds a multiplicity of sacred and secular significance that is ultimately ours for the taking make his Christmas catalog a standout. Worst Christmas Ever! is the perfect introduction to that catalog for new listeners and an essential addition for longtime Sufjan Christmas devotees.
TRACKLIST:
- Silent Night
- Put the Lights On The Tree
- Holly Jolly Christmas
- Christmas In The Room
- It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (Christmas Infinity Voyage Version)
- Sister Winter
- Joy To The World
- On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better)
- Angels We Have Heard On High (Christmas Infinity Voyage Version)
- Only At Christmas Time
- It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (Christmas Unicorn Version)
- That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!
- Sleigh Ride
- Justice Delivers Its Gift
- Auld Lang Syne
- Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages)
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