A Sun Came


A Sun Came! is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, released in 1999 on Asthmatic Kitty. It was reissued four years later. Among Stevens' back catalog, A Sun Came is notable for being recorded on four-track.

Thematic elements

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. The record as a whole was dubbed indie folk, indie rock, Celtic rock, alternative rock, and lo-fi by different professional music critics.
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's albums that would follow, A Sun Came features a multitude of instruments ranging from banjo, sitar, oboe and xylophone. In total the album features Stevens playing fourteen instruments.

Recording

Stevens originally recorded the bulk of the album in Holland, Michigan in 1998, with some post-editing performed at Hope College Recording Arts Center—the short track "Godzuki" was written by his siblings in 1981 and recorded by their stepfather Lowell Brams. "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.

Track listing

Personnel