Sufjan Stevens song, “Lonely Man of Winter” a soft Christmas song which exudes precious jingle bells in the backdrop. Stevens lulls you into a reflective state with his hush voice, cradling you into the holiday state set against a soft piano fade. Finding a new Christmas song which is catchy and dreamy is just too good to be true.
Back in 2007, Sufjan wrote for the winner of his “Xmas Song Xchange Contest.” As the sole recipient of the song, winner Alec Duffy played it for fans at exclusive listening parties around the world, and it has been unavailable publicly ever since—until now, that is. Listen to the full “Lonely Man of Winter” single below.
The full single of the track comes with a brand new version, produced by Doveman and featuring Melissa Mary Ahern. Her soft voice which accompanies Stevens is extremely compatible as the lyrics echo softly, is it the lonely man of winter. Is it the time we spend in silence. And even if its Christmas, could we just pretend for a bit. That everything we went through, was something so much better than this.
The single also includes Duffy’s contest-winning song “Every Day Is Christmas.” It will be available on vinyl December 7 via Asthmatic Kitty. All proceeds go to JACK, the Brooklyn non-profit venue for which Duffy serves as founder and artistic director.
Recently, Gallant released a new track featuring Sufjan Stevens and “Steven Universe” creator Rebecca Sugar. The song is titled, “TOOGOODTOBETRUE” which is a harmonic, synchronized rift. In January 2016, Gallant debuted his first series In The Room with Sufjan Stevens. The pair performed Steven’s song, “Blue Bucket of Gold.”
Stevens who was recently invited by the Academy thanks to his work in “Call Me By Your Name” has now gone on and scored another new ballet. The full orchestra score by Stevens will be accompanying “New Peck 1,” which will premiere at the New York City Ballet in January of next year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences made an unprecedented decision to invite 928 new members, with the music division alone 44, including Stevens, Kendrick Lamar and many others.
In 2007, Stevens premiered a project dubbed a “symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City’s infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The BQE was shot on super 8 film and the performance used 36 performers which included a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players and horn players. There were no lyrics to the music. The performance sold out the 2,109 seat BAM Opera House without any advertising.
In March 2017, Sufjan teamed up with Muhly, Dessner, and James McAlister to produce a “Planetarium Project” The album, Planetarium is described as a “collaboration between four brilliant musicians, with lyrics from Stevens revolving around mythology, astrology, science, astronomy and the intricacies of human consciousness.” The second single, “Mercury,” was released in April 2017.
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
Leave a Comment