You can’t say Sufjan Stevens has been playing things safe.  He’s recently released an unsettling clay-mation video featuring bloody scenes and has otherwise been going out on limbs.  And now, in his new video for I’ll Be Home For Christmas (from his impending Silver & Gold Christmas-songs box set) we see a less-than-Christmasy, David Lynch-esque montage of a child running past Santa sawing reindeer antlers, a creepy seance-esque scene, ballerinas menacingly popping balloons, and police hovering over what appears to be Stevens’ body (though credited as “Jordan Lake,” and finally ending with a child receiving a gift from what may or may not be her parents.  The only thing missing is Dennis Hopper and a gas mask.  Also reminds of Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander.  Yikes.  Don’t let your kids see this one.  The good news?  If you don’t watch, it’s a dreamy rendering of the song.

As Stevens’ label (we assume Stevens himself) has written about Christmas and the genesis for the new box set:  “This is the true horror-show catharsis of Christmas: the existential emptiness that perseveres in the heart of modern man as he recklessly pursues his search for happiness and comes up empty handed.”  But as also written, we trust that Stevens will do as they later say:  “His song is love; his song is hope; his song is peace. His song conjures the fruitcake world of his own imagination with steadfast pursuit of the inexplicable bliss of Christmas Promises—“Gloria in excelsis deo””.  Sounds like somebody we know.