The BQE
Sufjan Stevens
Asthmatic Kitty Records
4/5 Stars
The BQE, Sufjan Stevens’ latest album, is quite simply an orchestral ode to one of North America’s most poorly planned freeways.
Stevens is known for drawing his musical inspiration from an array of sources, thus it’s not surprising that The BQE is a celebration of New York City’s Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Stevens’ inspiration is a stretch of decrepit, tire-marked, graffiti-laden cement that weaves in and out of Brooklyn’s infrastructure. Five decades of shoddy upgrades have not saved motorists from the headaches of its congestion, but it has motivated Stevens to create a 40-minute orchestral suite reminiscent of American composer George Gershwin.
The tracks on The BQE align with a film Stevens produced, directed and filmed that bears the same name as the album.
The film not only focuses on the expressway, but also features a series of female hula-hooping superheroes whose poorly designed spandex costumes and ridiculous antics are a metaphor for the horrid freeway itself.
The suite opens to blaring trumpets, the artist’s rendition of the frustrations of rush-hour traffic, before introducing multitudes of light strings, soothing piano, kaleidoscopic electronica and many other instrumental sounds of the streets. The array of instruments used in Stevens’ three-dozen-person orchestra recalls instrumental interludes found in his most popular album Illinoise (2005). The plethora of tones that Stevens uses throughout The BQE emulates the collection of moods one may feel while making the drive from Brooklyn to Queens.
The diehard Stevens fan cannot help but be impressed with the BQE. Although the album does not feature Stevens’ trademark hush voice, his artistic ability has never been more apparent. To express a half-century worth of New York City sentiment is no easy task, however Stevens has risen to the challenge.
To a first-time Stevens listener, let it be known that this album is not typical of the Michigan-born musician. Although it could be deduced that Stevens is best equipped with a microphone and banjo, his ability to draw inspiration from objects and ideas that others easily bypass is consistent in all of his work, The BQE included.
When you are tired of pitying the same acoustic-guitar playing sap who just cannot seem to stop wailing about his lost love, knock on Stevens’ door, listen to The BQE, and open yourself to a world where one can take something out of nothing, and give it artistic meaning.