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 09/2010

    DARDEN SMITH
    Marathon

  • reviewed 08/2009

    MINDY SMITH
    Stupid Love

  • reviewed 04/2006

    Matt Nathanson
    At the Point

  • reviewed 04/2014

    AMBER NICOLE
    Lead You The Way Back Home

  • reviewed 04/2007

    Todd Snider
    Peace, Love and Anarchy (Rarities, B-Sides and Demos, Vol. 1)

  • reviewed 06/2008

    JUDY WRIGHT
    Judy Wright

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.