I spent two days writing about pop songs and albums, Sufjan in/out that context, blah blah blah, only to have the whole fucking blog vanish as I tried to publish it. FUCK. (Although, who am I kidding....you guys are thrilled).

The readers' digest version is this:

Point 1 - great pop is often short, sweet, melodic, even light (Rubber Soul etc), but sometimes can be long, bedraggled, unfocused (White Album) and every bit as rewarding, if not more so.

However, I don't think Sufjan's record is a big rambly affair like Dusk at the Cubist Castle or Being There. See pt. 2

Point 2 - Pure pop, almost by definition, doesn't allow for much scope - it's songic, self-contained in nature. The Sufjan record is all about scope; trying to create a landscape of music for the state of Illinois, as he did (or tried to) for Michigan. It is a grand mood piece, with a lot of really great songs. I don't think he should be compared to the Shins, GBV, or Teenage Fanclub (their latest one is very good on first listen, by the way)....though I'm not entirely sure who his peers are. The arrangements and the songs exhibit a lot of craft, and benefit from a more deliberate exposition. I've listened to the new record a lot over the last two weeks, and would be disappointed to lose any of these songs/musical moments.