“Cut up” has never been Stevens’ most comfortable mode, but luckily, the rest of the album settles into more fitting ones. With the benefit of hindsight, you can start to hear the ghosts of beloved solo Sufjan songs moving around inside some of these Christmas originals: “Justice Delivers Its Gift,” originally recorded in 2010, now sounds like a dry run for “Should Have Known Better,” which he’d release five years later. Meanwhile “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!,” recorded in 2003, carries spindly echoes of “Casimir Pulaski Day,” which didn’t see release until 2005.

Even at their most melancholy, his Christmas songs somehow feel inclusive, maybe just because there are always so many other voices in them, including contributions from Richard Reed Parry , Gabriel Kahane , Aaron and Bryce Dessner , Sebastian Krueger, and others.…