SUFJAN STEVENS

The BQE

2010-01-12

After the amazing collections of "Michigan" and "Illinois," leave it to Sufjan Stevens to tackle another historic-driven musical venture: the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (or BQE). Commissioned to do music and a film documentary, Stevens did meticulous research and delivered an instrumental soundtrack that intends to tell the story of this controversial roadway (which cuts through neighborhoods with hair-raising turns that make our own S-Curve look like a garden path). If you liked the instrumental passages in his previous discs, you will appreciate the layers of instruments and themes that he presents here. If you're wondering what's with the women with hula hoops on the CD jacket, Stevens makes the connection and contrast between the BQE and the invention of the hula hoop, invented the same year the expressway was completed. Hard to imagine what this guy will do next! Amazingly talented, often hyper-intellectual, never boring. 01/10 F-Esoteric (Instrumental) Michael J.

Quick Links:

More reviews tagged #Folk

  • reviewed 08/2010

    JOHN MCVEY
    UNPREDICTABLE

  • reviewed 01/2012

    PAUL KELLY
    Greatest Hits-Songs From the South Volumes 1 & 2

  • reviewed 10/2004

    Chris Thile
    Deceiver

  • reviewed 12/2015

    The Paperboys
    At Peace With Ones Ghosts

  • reviewed 09/2008

    MICHAEL DOUCET
    FROM NOW ON

  • reviewed 10/2015

    Brooke Annibale
    The Simple Fear

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.