Silver & Gold

by Sufjan Stevens

Overview

Silver & Gold, the 2012 follow-up to 2006's Songs for Christmas, offers up another five-EP set of schizophrenic seasonal cheer from one of indie pop's most prolific and maddeningly detail-oriented overachievers. Housed in an incredibly colorful box that yields volumes 6-10 of the series, they are presented in meticulously decorated, single cardboard sleeves that feel like part of a graphic design thesis, and are accompanied by an 80-page booklet filled with lyrics, chord charts, childhood photos, and personal and production liner notes peppered with rainbow headers, temporary tattoos that include a skeleton Santa, a Manga unicorn and an emo-Jesus, and a construct-it-yourself holiday ornament (comic book-style instructions are provided). Stylistically, it's a lot to take in which, not surprisingly, applies to the music as well. For the most part, Silver & Gold stays true to Stevens' predilection for kitchen sink, lo-fi chamber pop, but he plays fast and loose with the formula, offering up nervy, post-rock oddities like "Mr. Frosty Man" and "X-Spirit Catcher," progressive folk epics in "The Boy with the Star on his Head" and "Christmas Unicorn," and an Age of Adz-inspired rendition of yuletide favorite "Alphabet Street," by Prince in lieu of just standards. That's not to say that the Christmas spirit has been subverted, as Stevens provides plenty of traditional holiday cheer ("Joy to the World," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "Silent Night," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (which clocks in at 40 seconds and is performed only on recorders), and his band of disparate merry makers, who include Aaron and Bryce Dessner (the National), Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), and assorted members of the Castanets and the Danielson Famile, among others, who help to keep things lively and spontaneous, resulting in an audio experience that's akin to pressing your ear against the door of a rehearsal room in a church basement, or watching a Wes Anderson movie while listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas. ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	11/29/2024
Label:	Asthmatic Kitty
UPC:	0729920166725

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Sufjan Stevens   Primary Artist
Aaron Dessner   Vocals,Mandolin,Bass (Upright),Guitar (Acoustic)
Daniel Smith   Vocals,Flute (Wood),Drums
Brian Wolfe   Drums,Percussion
CJ Camerieri   Trumpet
Alexandra Sopp   Bells,Flute,Vocals
Bryce Dessner   Vocals,Ukulele,Percussion,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (Classical)
Casey Foubert   Guitar (Bass)
Raymond Raposa   Vocals
Sayard Egan   Vocals
Rosie Thomas   Choir/Chorus
Marla Hansen   Viola,Vocals,Featured Artist
Cat Martino   Piano,Vocals,Omnichord,Choir/Chorus,Featured Artist,Guitar (Acoustic)
Vesper Stamper   Voices,Choir/Chorus,Featured Artist
Clara Klaus   Vocals
Elin Smith   Vocals
Lily Smith   Violin,Vocals
Sonya Hofer   Choir/Chorus
James McAlister   Drums,Percussion
Sebastian Krueger   Vocals,Autoharp,Clarinet,Percussion,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Richard Reed Parry   Vocals,Bass (Upright)
Olivier Manchon   Violin
Ida Smith   Vocals,Marimba
Gabriel Kahane   Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Reed Organ
Nathan Lithgow   Drums,Vocals,Percussion,Guitar (Bass)

Technical Credits

Mitchell Parish   Lyricist,Composer
Sufjan Stevens   Mixing,Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Lyricist,Producer,Liner Notes,Instrumentation
Haven Gillespie   Composer,Lyricist
Traditional   Composer
Lowell Mason   Composer
Johnny Marks   Composer,Lyricist
Aaron Dessner   Composer
Johann Schop   Composer
John McCaig   Mastering
David Stith   Engineer
Leos Janacek   Composer
Johann Heermann   Composer,Lyricist
Hugh Martin   Composer,Lyricist
Bryce Dessner   Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach   Composer
Jerry Herman   Composer,Lyricist
J. Fred Coots   Composer,Lyricist
Isaac Watts   Composer,Lyricist
Kim Gannon   Composer,Lyricist
Edmund Sears   Composer,Lyricist
Felix Mendelssohn   Composer
Franz Gruber   Composer
James Pierpont   Composer,Lyricist
Casey Foubert   Guitar Engineer
Joseph Mohr   Composer,Lyricist
Jule Styne   Composer,Lyricist
Prince   Composer,Lyricist
Noel Regney   Composer
Cat Martino   Composer
Buck Ram   Composer,Lyricist
Georg Weissel   Composer,Lyricist
John Freeman Young   English Translations
Thomas Vito Aiuto   Liner Notes
Amos Pilsbury   Composer
Charles Wesley   Composer,Lyricist
Thomas Williams   Composer
Franz Schubert   Composer
Sebastian Krueger   Composer,Lyricist
Walter Kent   Composer,Lyricist
Leroy Anderson   Composer,Lyricist
John Dowland   Composer
Robert Burns   Composer,Lyricist
John Henry Hopkins, Jr.   Composer
Devin Greenwood   Piano Engineer,Drum Engineering,Percussion Engineer
Ralph Blane   Composer,Lyricist
Sammy Cahn   Composer,Lyricist
Johannes Crueger   Composer
John Mason Neale   Composer,Lyricist
Richard Storrs Willis   Composer
Gloria Shayne   Composer
Benjamin Russell Hanby   Composer,Lyricist
Ananias Davisson   Composer
Catherine Winkworth   Translation