Don't get me wrong. This is a great album. He accomplishes exactly what he set out to do with uncanny ease: to produce the most non-threatening album ever made about the state of Illinois. Hell, it's even more non-threatening than the only band ever named after a city in Illinois. And that's saying a lot. I have to question when popular music took this turn into being completely innocent and non-confrontational. With Third Eye Blind? The Gin Blossoms? John Mayer? James Blunt? The fact is Sufjan and his ilk are a marketing campaign away from being VH1 darlings, a la Mayer and Blunt. It's music girls can play in their air-conditioned Camrys on the way to the office. It's music thier boyfriends can play while internally struggling with their buried homosexuality. And while the songs can be irresistibly catchy and it's produced beautifully, the whole preciousness of the album turns me off. Rock and roll is supposed to be threatening. And folk music? Folk music has its roots in confrontation, in questioning the status quo. This is where I get completely flabber-gasted by this "new folk" misnomer. Its not folk. It's like really well-produced alternative Mayer-rock. And that's it. Its not a bad thing or a good thing, really, I just think the praise being heaped on Sufjan is coming from the wrong angle.
