Sufjan Stevens - "(You Are The) Rake"

Sufjan Stevens has an interesting career. His first solo album A Sun Came was released in 2000. A mixed bag of lo-fi indie rock, folk, and world music, it was not an easily digestible record. Whatever small grouping of fans he might have gained with his debut must have ran for the hills when he released his second record, Enjoy Your Rabbit, an instrumental, electronic song cycle based on the Chinese Zodiac. It was then that he announced his ambition to release 50 albums, each one dedicated to a US state (a concept that has gotten Stevens a lot of notoriety even if he has no plans to continue it further than his landmark Illinoise record).

Getting back to A Sun Came - a reissue of said record hit stores in 2004, containing two newly recorded bonus tracks. One of them was a redo of the proper album's "Rake", a version that Stevens recorded presumably during the Seven Swans sessions given it's plucky sound and Meghan Smith's backing vocal. Both versions are great but the remake is the real winner. The original is purposely tinny, sounding like a transistor radio with a special broadcast just for you. While it's inspiring, it's also self contained and melancholic. "You Are The Rake" is the complete inverse. All of the sounds are clear with immaculate acoustics (a common trait for all the songs on Seven Swans). Rather than the somewhat destitute nature of the original, the remake is uplifting and a great way to end the lengthy sprawl of the album.

sufjan stevens - You Are The Rake by spacechef