Sufjan concert

Went to Sufjan Stevens concert last night with N--he's the fan. To me, many of Sufjan's old songs sound like he and his friends got together to drink and record a jam session. Last night he played his new stuff: mostly techno-sci fi, which could be great if you're into psychedelic meandering. But I'm not into that, nor would I expect his fan base to be. Sufjan has a nice, clear voice, and punctuated the set with short acoustic pieces that contain lovely harmony--the kind of songs that have always been my favorite of his. He has a friendly stage presence, and talked about his creative process, explaining that several years ago he got tired of his music and decided to abandon melody and traditional songs and experiment with sound.

I guess it's not surprising that artists would get tired of doing the same thing forever, and Sufjan has always been independent, not commercial. But for a while I couldn't help feeling that he'd betrayed his fans--we'd paid to hear and dance and sing to his folksy, melodic, banjo tunes, and instead got repetitive, self-indulgent synthesizer music. It reminded me of a couple things: 1) Modern art--some people might find it brilliant, but the masses are perplexed (I don't always align myself with the masses, but here I will); 2) Writing as a mode of self-expression, rather than a means of communication--which has it's place, but that place is usually private, not public.

As far as I can tell, Sufjan was writing his music for himself, not his fans. Perhaps that's always been the case, and perhaps he's as surprised as anyone that he has fans who pay to buy his records and see him in concert. I think he is aware of his audience in that he thanked us for sitting through his new music and rewarded us with a few old songs at the end of the show. I'll take that as an apology and be glad that N wasn't too disappointed.