Sufjan Stevens 9/16 - Paramount Theater, Austin

I like Sufjan Stevens. It's pleasant music, full of nice harmony and pop. A guy with a guitar and sickly-sweet double tracked vocals, what's not to like? It's the type of music you could play for a girl at random from the street and she'd probably love it and love you for it.

But I don't love his music by any stretch. The words "sugary" and "overproduced" come to mind. It's like the trap that some of Elliott Smith's music falls into - layers and layers of harmony actually begin to detract from the sincerity of the music. Grandeur is great to aim for, but there are different, and more affecting, ways to reach elation other than typical choral arrangements and movie soundtrack orchestration. It doesn't quite reach cheesy, but it smells all too familiar.

This is the mindset I went into the show with, but I was open to having my opinion changed. The live show is, afterall, a gateway to a religious experience. Bands that are merely good on record become powerful and god-like on stage. An explosive sound can blow your mind into sensual ecstasy. Hopefully, my image of him as indie-pop lite would gain something of a bit more substance.

Sufjan's band then all walked out with butterfly wings. My opinion was not changed. The show was good though, I enjoyed it overall. The stage was full - there was a horn section, back up singers, and the standard guitar/bass/drums. They played head-nodders and attractive melodies, appealing stuff through and through. There were songs I didn't recognize, but at the same time, there was also nothing that surprised me. During climaxes, the theater hummed thick with harmonic layers, but musically, it was like eating vanilla creme cookies for an hour. Pleasant, at worst. Or, at best, whichever you prefer.

Near the beginning of the show Sufjan stated that he would play songs that aimed at "transcendence". I suppose I just have a differing view of how to accomplish that.