Sufjan Stevens: covers, comps, and new songs
Though Sufjan Stevens announced 2007 to be a year of writing and recording, he hasn't stepped back completely from society. Several songs have been released on compilations, as well as performances with string sections backing Sufjan up. It seems that the King of Indie has grown larger than life, though not showing signs of reaching a stalemate with creativity.
Sufjan Stevens opens a Joni Mitchell tribute album, covering Free Man In Paris. It's everything you would expect from Stevens, with a distinct tube warmth. A Tribute to Joni Mitchell also features Bjork, Prince, Sarah McLachlan, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, James Taylor, among five others.
Another compilation that Sufjan has graced is a twenty-track compilation for The Believer magazine. In The Words of the Governor sounds more like a White Stripes song than the trademark Sufjan Stevens sound, as fuzzy guitars replace the horns and strings, sure to catch many of his fans off-guard.
Stevens recently performed new songs at the Music Now Festial, backed by Amiina, the string section for Sigur Ros. Sufjan performed Jupiter Bad June, a somber piece with Stevens on piano, which was originally on an album about planets. He followed this with Barn Owl, Night Killer, a new and beautiful song with Sufjan playing the ivory. The festival was held in Cincinnati, organized by Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National.
Sufjan will bring out new material in November when he performs at the 25th New Wave Festival:
"On November 1, 2 and 3rd Sufjan will be pairing orchestrated selections of both new and old material with the 25th Next Wave Festival commission/world premiere of The BQE-a symphonic and cinematic exploration of one of New York's least celebrated monuments: the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Robert Moses' controversial 11.7-mile roadway tears through neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens with the brute force of modern urban planning, and in Stevens' hands becomes an evocation of the intersection of intimate experience and the American Dream. Merging a virtual road trip shot on film with a live band and orchestral ensemble, The BQE discovers abstract patterns and stories in the snaking traffic, potholed pavement, billboards, badly marked exits, and beautiful city views, revealing what happens when Manifest Destiny converges with urban blight."
Sufjan Stevens – In The Words of the Governor
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