Album: All Delighted People EP
Year: 2010
. . .
Of course, we weren’t ever going to get the other 48 albums of Sufjan Stevens’ purported “50 States Project.” No single human being could have possibly done that. Even one as prolific as Sufjan Stevens.
What we did get was a shit-ton of other things: a Illinois outtakes album called The Avalanche, a soundtrack album called the BQE and a box set of 42 Christmas songs. But no official follow-up. Not until 2010, when it was announced that Sufjan’s next official studio album, entitled The Age of Adz, would drop in October.
Which he then immediately undercut by putting out the initially online-only All Delighted People EP in September. Because why not? Of course, this particular EP was nearly an hour long, and climaxed with a 17-minute song that — well, we’ll talk about that tomorrow — suffice to say, it was all curveballs, like Barry Zito in his prime.
But one of those curveballs was the gorgeous “Heirloom,” which was basically just Sufjan and some 12-string guitars, and feels like the aftermath of the situation from “Casimir Pulaski Day”
When your heirloom’s wilted brown
When the devil’s pushing down
When your mourning has a sound
And you hesitate to laugh
How quickly will your joy pass?
How quickly will your joy pass?
Which it might or might not be, because in this case, Sufjan is offering to help out with someone else’s pain, willing to do whatever he can.
And when you walk inside I feel the door
I’ll never let it push your arms no more
And when your legs give out, just lie right down
And I will kiss you till your breath is found
And when you walk inside I feel the door
I’ll never let it push your arms no more
One of first songs Sufjan ever wrote, “Heirloom” is short and simple, anchored by the guitar tangles and accented by some lovely “la-la-las,” and when he sings at the end “I only meant to be a friend to everyone this time,” you have no choice to believe him.
“Heirloom”
“Heirloom” Live in 2018
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