A Sun Came

A Sun Came is a folk rock music album by Sufjan Stevens, released in 2000. It was reissued on Asthmatic Kitty Records 4 years later.

Sound

Among Stevens' back catalog, A Sun Came is notable for being recorded on 4 track. As noted in Allmusic review of the album, the album explores many types of ethnic music from throughout the globe, ranging from Celtic, Indian, Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Far Eastern and American folk music

Stevens himself has described the album's sound as incorporating "traditional pop music, medieval instrumentation with Middle Eastern inflections, tape loops, digital samples, literary vocals, manic percussion, woodwinds, sitar, amp distortion and Arabic chants"

Like many Stevens albums that would follow, features a multitude of instruments ranging from banjo, sitar, oboe and xylophone. All in all the album features Stevens playing fourteen instruments

"Joy! Joy! Joy!" was recorded for the 2001 re-release and "You Are the Rake," a reworking of "Rake," was recorded for the 2004 re-release.

"Belly Button" and "Satan's Saxophone" feature high pitched field recordings with absurdist humor reminiscent of the calendar dated tracks off Beck's Stereopathetic Soulmanure (1994).

Track listing

1. "We Are What You Say" – 5:20
2. "A Winner Needs a Wand" – 5:24
3. "Rake" – 2:48
4. "Siamese Twins" – 0:15
5. "Demetrius" – 6:01
6. "Dumb I Sound" – 5:49
7. "Wordsworth's Ridge (For Fran Frike)" – 4:54
8. "Belly Button" – 0:09
9. "Rice Pudding" – 2:24
10. "A Loverless Bed (Without Remission)" – 6:17
11. "Godzuki" – 0:36
12. "Super Sexy Woman" – 2:42
13. "The Oracle Said Wander" – 5:39
14. "Happy Birthday" – 2:45
15. "Jason" – 6:10
16. "Kill" – 4:26
17. "Ya Leil" – 5:38
18. "A Sun Came" – 2:11
19. "Satan's Saxophones" – 2:31
20. "Joy! Joy! Joy!" (reissue bonus track) – 3:23
21. "You Are the Rake" (reissue bonus track) – 3:02