Sufjan Steven's "The Greatest Gift Mixtape", consisting of outtakes, remixes, and demos from 2015's fantastic "Carrie & Lowell" is as warm and melancholic as the original.
The new songs on the mixtape are just as good as anything Sufjan has ever put out, especially "Wallowa Lake Monster". Still, it is easy to see why these songs were left out in the first place; they just don't mesh well with the other songs on "Carrie & Lowell". However, even though they don't mesh perfectly with "Carrie & Lowell", they also don't have the same energy and spunk as songs off "Illinois".
The track listing of the album works well and the production for the remixes sound smooth and expensive, though still rather frivolous and unneeded at times. However, they still have their own gems in the midst, such as the finger picking remix of "Drawn to the Blood"
The iPhone demo is quite interesting and much less of a limp track than it so easily could've been, and it's interesting to see Sufjan's creative process through it. With demos, but Sufjan's especially, you can really see the heart artists pour into their music.
Albums like these often end up being shameless cash grabs full of mediocre and bad efforts that the artist doesn't really care about. This is not the case with "The Greatest Gift Mixtape". Though the remixes can be seen as needless, they are still very well thought out in the context of the album. Furthermore, the new material and demos are all top notch in themselves, making up for any shortcomings that the remixes could have for some people.
The time of season this has come out is also perfect and makes the title of the mixtape even more applicable. This is the perfect bittersweet warm album for the cold winter months, for sitting around indoors with a blanket while it's cold outside or driving around in the snow for a while.
Overall, "The Greatest Gift Mixtape" has a very strong EP of songs within it, seeing as how none of them fall below Sufjan's normal LP releases. The demos are interesting as well and add to the mixtape, shedding some light on to Sufjan's creative process. If anything is lacking in the mixtape and detracts from its overall worth, it is the remixes, with some of them seeming silly or frivolous. Still, however, "The Greatest Gift Mixtape" is a worthwhile release to pick up and listen to, especially for Sufjan Stevens' fans.
