Best Songs Of 2010 #12

Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People (Original Version)

“All delighted people, raise their hands.”

This has been a surprisingly busy year for Sufjan, considering that he all but disappeared from the music scene in 2009. We’ve seen the release of his first proper full length album in a long time, ‘The Age Of Adz’, his network television debut, and, most importantly for me, the announcement of an Australian tour.

However we’ve also seen the release, out of nowhere, of a little EP called ‘All Delighted People’. This, the title track, is so important and so great because it achieves what seemed impossible: it finds a satisfactory balance between Sufjan’s epic pop music and his newer glitchy electro sound.

Yes there is a lot of electronic elements, but there is also plenty of orchestration, choir parts, and even a smattering of lyrics from The Sound Of Silence. When all these elements give way to a softly played guitar and Sufjan’s sublime voice, you can’t help but realise this is pretty much perfect music.

It clocks in at well over 10 minutes, but yet it never feels like it is trying too hard to be epic, and equally it never gets repetitive, due in no small part to the chaotic changes in instrumentation and style throughout. Even though ‘The Age Of Adz’ is a great record in its own right, for me personally, nothing on it comes close to this song.