Sufjan Stevens is the Picasso of indie folk. He takes the soothing NPR/car commercial sounds we know and love for their warmth and familiarity and says "Nope" and farts in our faces. The smell clears and what we see is that we deserved it... Sufjan Stevens knows what we need, and his new partner in crime, Angelo, is ready to help spread the message of love.
Here we have irony, whismy, beauty, all in one package. While there is little in the way of creative musicianship or unique writing, one can really feel Sufjan and Angelo's emotions being bounced back and forth like an intense game of emotional ping pong. Sufjan's vocals will lull you to sleep. He is so subtle that sometimes you don't even realize you're still listening to the album, but this is the beauty of indie music. While it is not present like most of the music we love, it is still there, and that simply cannot be denied. Sufjan is the expert of this juxtaposition. He knows that listeners listen to music to actually hear it and be entertained and moved, but he also knows that there is often background noise present when we are trying to listen to our favorite music. Sufjan decided that to truly take indie folk to the next level, one must merge music you listen to and music you don't notice together, making
A Beginner's Mind an album that's so good you barely hear it.
That being said, there are bits of emotion and whimsical quips that jump out at you. Listening to this album, I can easily picture Zooey Deschanel or Ramona Flowers. Like all indie folk, it evokes the late 2000's, but instead of being sentimental and nostalgic, it paints a picture of the landscape of the era and pulls no punches. Lyrically, Sufjan is like Bob Dylan, acting as a court jester and a prophet all the same.
