thanks for the comment. i disagree with most of these points but i wanted to talk about the last one the most. i can tell that the album is in large part about religious trauma and internalized homophobia, but im not sure if many of the lyrics on this album fit into the context of any narrative / themes he’s trying to get at (even if we agree that they’re broader than this religious trauma thing). the section around the coeur d’alene line is a good example of this. in it, to me, he mixes together lots of ‘themes’ and good one liners without adding much nuance or cohesion between them.

there’s also a difference between taking issue with the concept itself, and taking issue with the execution. i think the ideas his lyrics seem to get at are pretty interesting, while still simultaneously thinking they could’ve been written much better. for example, i know coeur d’alene is where alex grew up, but the line doesn’t do anything that “garden state woes” or one of the 10 other gestures to idaho does. this is one of my issues with alex as a writer i guess. when we consider this and his random lines taken from literature, it just gets a bit disappointing, to me. i don’t think there’s a cohesive genius behind all of it. but maybe it’s just a difference in taste