The Greatest Gift

The hushed, acoustic textures of Stevens' 2015 album, Carrie & Lowell, marked his return to indie folk. The Greatest Gift offers Carrie & Lowell remixes, demos, and outtakes that simultaneously illuminate the album's genesis and create a parallel-universe version. As fascinating as it is to hear a fragile, acoustic-based track like "Drawn to the Blood" reimagined with sweeping, pulsing electronic textures, it's equally intriguing to encounter spare, unvarnished demos of "John My Beloved" and "Carrie & Lowell," not to mention outtakes that stand tall alongside the original cuts.