WHO would have thought the banjo could sound so enchanting? Yes, that plinky-plonky instrument which looks, and generally sounds, like the bastard offspring of a tambourine and a mandolin.

Yet when heard in the hands of Sufjan Stevens, a soft-voiced American folk singer, it is possible to write a sentence containing the words "banjo" and "beautiful". The sound Stevens creates is sparse and lovely, with the notes of the banjo picked slow and clear, rather than hillbilly hectic. By going back to folk basics, touching both on the American and the British tradition, Stevens makes music which sounds timeless and yet also fresh and modern.

The opening track, All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands, is quietly stunning, a masterpiece of spiritual yearning and mythical wandering. In The Devil's Territory trembles with menace, while A Good Man Is Hard To Find is sublimely good. Strummed guitars and crystal vocals from Elin and Megan Smith of the Danielson Famile add to the weird poetic beauty of an album to

Updated: 08:41 Thursday, March 25, 2004