I’ve always been a big fan of Sufjan Stevens’ work. When I heard that he was creating a self-made home-made movie and composing its orchestral soundtrack, I nearly lost it. Tomorrow, Stevens releases “The BQE,” a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop. I remember hearing about this last year, and since then I had completely forgotten about it. “The BQE” was originally performed at the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the 25th anniversary Next Wave Festival in October of 2007. Asthmatic Kitty Records‘ description of the album speaks of “a grand creative franchise-incorporating movie, symphony, comic book, dissertation, photography, graphic design, and a 3-D Viewmaster® reel-in which a songwriter’s interrogation of one of New York’s ugliest landmarks expands athletically to forums and formulas outside of the song itself. In fact, the BQE is everything but a song.” If that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will. Here’s an excerpt from “The BQE,” along with one of my favorite tracks from the album, “Movement II – Sleeping Invader.”

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Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Song: Movement II – Sleeping Invader.mp3
Album: The BQE