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Seven Swans
Universal acclaim
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 38 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Sounds Familyre / Rough Trade
Release Date: 16 March 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Summary
The indie singer-songwriter's fourth solo album, produced by Danielson Famile's Daniel Smith, follows on the heels of his critically-lauded 2003 effort 'Greetings From Michigan.'
Also By This Artist: Illinois Songs For Christmas The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras From The Illinois Album The BQE
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Br. Danielson: Brother Is To Son
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly
He shares [Elliott] Smith's gift for sketching in complex emotional states with telling details. [19 Mar 2004, p.66]
Spin
Like Elliott Smith after ten years of Sunday school. [May 2004, p.108]
Delusions of Adequacy
A coherent, moving album that cements its place in listeners conscience.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
"Seven Swans" is as a graceful tour de force of an album - beguiling, bewitching and beautiful.
Read Full Review >Splendid
Seven Swans plays like a stripped-down, less thematic counterpart to its predecessor. It's also strong enough in its own right to keep fans arguing for months over which album is better.
Read Full Review >Mojo
So sweet is the harmonic construction that awareness of the ecclesiastical niceties of such as The Transfiguration... is incidental to falling under the divine spell. [May 2004, p.105]
Tiny Mix Tapes
Many of the songs continue to showcase Stevens' avid and passionate banjo-plucking, accompanied by similar harmonized vocals that resonate with beauty and commitment.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
It’s an arresting record that doesn’t pull strings or elide with gimmicks, nor does it preach or try to persuade. You needn’t believe in a higher order to realize that Seven Swans is an expression of something stirring, something beautiful.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
Sufjan Stevens is a musician who seems to just be reaching his creative peak and shows no signs of slowing down.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Even if we're not taken by the subject matter, we're taken by how beautifully and personally Sufjan is taken by it.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Stevens' strumming often has an unworldly quality that transcends folk archetypes. [Apr 2004, p.92]
All Music Guide
Like faith, these songs require patience, as their almost mantra-like arcs take their time to fully form.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Like Nick Drake or, more recently, Damien Jurado, Stevens serves his songs best with near-whispers, delicately breathing them into existence. [31 Mar 2004]
Drowned In Sound
Stevens has a beautiful voice and a rare melodic instinct but it is the passion with which he performs these songs that causes them to communicate so much, so well.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
His beliefs take periodic diva turns, but Seven Swans is still far more preoccupied with the banjo than God: Stevens's tenderly picked chords fly higher than any golden harp, and his delicate, lapping vocals lovingly complement all that tinny stroking.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Seven Swans easily does the job of securing Sufjan Stevens as one of those songwriters you must become familiar with.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
While Seven Swans is possibly a better record than Michigan, with such an overtly Christian sheen, it will be interesting to see if the liberal music press gives it as much praise as it deserves.
Read Full Review >Junkmedia
It is Stevens' creepier qualities that make him a cut above the average singer-songwriter.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Stevens is... smart enough to offset the egghead subject matter with a batch of deceptively simple tunes. [May 2004, p.108]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
max dubya gave it a10:
Unbelievebly good. Its rare not to find sufjan gracing my CD player, and Seven Swans is an album which is among his very finest
lieven b gave it a9:
beatiful album! amzing banjo and the three last songs are astonishing! What do you want more?
Christopher L gave it a10:
While lacking the orchestrated complexity of Illinois, Seven Swans strips Sufjan's music down to the most basic, as well as the most beautiful, aspect of its essence. Some fine banjo work.
J Tourke gave it a10:
Bloody Brilliant!!
Jan Pieter M gave it a10:
Gorgeous... He is like the faun playing the flute.. makes you want to cry and sleep and jump and do whatever just because it's so beautiful. Gives me an ache in the stomach every time I hear it.
Jaeroplane gave it a10:
Sufjan's best album, reserved for the afternoons or evenings when you need your soul to be stirred. Where Michigan and Illinoise takes you through a full spectrum of subjects, styles, emotions, and entertainments, Seven Swans forces you into a higher level of introspection.
mr. hankey gave it a10:
Well If you haven't heard of Sufjan Stevens by now since the release of his 2005 album Illinois you either live in a cave or don't know anything about the indie rock scene. Obviously It is as big as the music that they play on your MTV channel. Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens is a hush and quiet acoustic album that shines the most at the end with a amazing song " The Transfiguration " Which in my opinion is the best on the record and the best song he has ever done. Yes, this detroit native sure can break out of two average albums and come back with 3 killer records. Luckily I became interested since he comes from where I live Detroit. He is soft and the beauty of the music sinks in but he is more amazing because with someone who makes this good music you would most likely expect them to arrogant but he is far from that he seems timid and you can tell by the songs and the lyrics. So what do I think of this album well you could say I think it is a masterpiece of modern music but it is far from perfect. It has it's faults even though they may not show as much as say the new album by the Strokes but he is doing his folk interpretation of music and thats what I like about him. Two Big Thumbs Up!
