Sufjan Stevens: The BQE film, Run Rabbit Run and a tour
Four years have passed since Sufjan Stevens released the critically acclaimed Illinois. What Sufjan has been working on, besides producing albums, has bubbled to the surface.
First came the announcement of a short tour with Cryptacize, which starts on September 21st and ends October 7th. Sufjan is staying in the eastern half of the United States and Canada, but we can suspect that Stevens will be touring extensively in the near future.
The tour is not in conjunction of a new album, but rather a combination of projects. Sufjan Stevens’ electronic experimentation of Enjoy Your Rabbit was interpreted by the string quartet, Osso. As the story goes, Bryce Dessner of The National instigated this project and helped compose the interpretations. Run Rabbit Run is being released on October 6th.
Osso / Sufjan Stevens – Enjoy Your Rabbit (Run Rabbit Run)
Sufjan Stevens – Enjoy Your Rabbit (from Enjoy Your Rabbit)
The next announcement is a film directed, produced, and filmed by Sufjan Stevens. The BQE is ” a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop. Commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), The BQE was originally performed in the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the 25th anniversary Next Wave Festival in October of 2007.”
The soundtrack to The BQE, written and recorded by Sufjan, will be released on 180-gram vinyl, along with liner notes, photographs and “the 40-page Hooper Heroes comic book.” The DVD, CD and LP will be released October 20th.
The BQE soundtrack track list:
1. Prelude on the Esplanade (2:56)
2. Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes (1:07)
3. Movement I—In the Countenance of Kings (5:19)
4. Movement II—Sleeping Invader (4:34)
5. Interlude I—Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation (3:33)
6. Movement III—Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise (4:09)
7. Movement IV—Traffic Shock (3:24)
8. Movement V—Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns (3:45)
9. Interlude II—Subi Power Waltz (0:28)
10. Interlude III—Invisible Accidents (0:54)
11. Movement VI—Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges (3:17)
12. Movement VII (Finale)—The Emperor of Centrifuge (3:51)
13. Postlude—Critical Mass (2:59)