Sufjan's new gig

It’s been nearly three years since the indie-sphere last witnessed a new Sufjan Stevens album, which is equivalent to a several lifetimes in blog years. The poster child of indie folk last completed Songs for Christmas in 2006, and has since been – wait, what has Sufjan been doing all this time?

Looks like Michigan’s own singer-songwriter has been keeping himself busy despite a standstill of new material. His new gig: experimental filmmaking – with a strong emphasis on experimental. It takes a truly brilliant mind to find a connection between the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the hula-hoop, but leave it to Sufjan to deliver. Orchestrating a cinematic suite about twelve miles of urban roadway and a plastic ring sounds almost normal given his past musical accomplishments. Nonetheless, on October 20, 2009, Sufjan Stevens will present The BQE, a double-formatted CD/DVD album featuring the soundtrack and original 16mm/8mm film. And yes, you read that correctly – it was made with film film, because digital clearly isn’t “indie” enough anymore.


(I'm not really sure how I feel about this album art.)

In essence, The BQE is an elaborate “do-it-yourself” home movie made by Stevens and cinematographer Reuben Kleiner. If you were hoping for another Illinoise-esque album, this could be some disappointing news for you. Originally recorded over two years ago, the film’s soundtrack is without lyrics and features both a wind and brass ensemble. Think orchestra – not banjo. The music of The BQE mirrors the symphonic scope of “Majesty, Snowbird,” the theme song for Sufjan’s 2006 tour; expect plenty of cymbal crashes, horns, and timpani. The trailer shows the film being presented in three simultaneous split-screens – the end result being a panoramic montage of New York’s “ugliest landmark” – The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. How the hula hoop fits in with all this is still a conundrum. Apparently the film’s protagonists are three cheerleader-like superheroes who use hula hoops to combat the “totalitarian social architecture” of one “Captain Moses” (after the late Robert Moses, the architect behind the expressway). If anything, this novelty film is going to be major eye candy for fans, keeping in tradition with the quirky humor you’d expect from Sufjan. Unfortunately, the casual moviegoer might give you a skeptical look if they stumbled across you watching this during open house hours.

As with the Songs for Christmas album, The BQE is definitely something fans will want to buy at their neighborhood music store (but Wal-Mart works fine) in order to get all the extra goodies. Complete with all its political motifs and “mid-century urban theory,” The BQE album is also packaged with a 3-D View-Master reel (remember those?) and a 40-page comic book written by Mr. Stevens himself – plenty of reasons to pass on downloading the album online.

With such a goody bag on the horizon later this month, it’s only more surprising that Sufjan is releasing a collaborative album a mere two weeks prior. Released on Tuesday, Run Rabbit Run takes the zodiac-inspired tracks of 2001’s Enjoy Your Rabbit and replaces Sufjan’s first electronica attempt with violins and cellos. The Osso String Quartet has re-worked the album, using stringed instruments to replicate the original synthesizers and white noise. The result is something completely removed from the nice, folksy sound of Sufjan Stevens you probably have in your mind. The tracks are frantic and unconventional, but surprisingly elegant. It’s like if a Victorian Mr. Darcy met up with Darth Vader, had a cup of tea, and then battled to the death. The music will easily hit home with those in love with the classical genre. With each track being named after a zodiac animal (ox, monkey, tiger, etc.), the album is saturated with influences of traditional Chinese folk music. See, we can still call it “folk” if we want to.


(Now that's an awesome album cover!)

At its core, Run Rabbit Run isn’t just another Asthmatic Kitty side-project for Sufjan, but rather it’s Osso’s debut album – or dare we say, remix. This sadly only rubs it in that Sufjan isn’t releasing any new material this month. While loyal fans continue to cry out for a proper album, Sufjan seems content holding off his Fifty States Project to work on releases that could sadly go underappreciated.