The BQE - Sufjan Stevens

The BQE by Sufjan Stevens is an entirely instrumental suite of music composed to accompany an original film shot by Stevens and create "a symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway." Its not an entirely uncharacteristic move for such an eclectic artist who at one point was going to write a record for every state in the USA but whilst Stevens is well know for many things - a passionate religious commitment, a repertoire of accoustic, beautifully penned tracks and some fantastical stage shows - a road film score is new territory, even for him.

The album starts as if providing the backing music to the motorway early in the morning, before any of the noisy traffic streams start, with trumpets heralding the arrival of a new day and a beautiful, contemplative piano track that builds to a full, bursting-with-sunshine orchestral crescendo. The sound then moves into ‘hectic’, with busy wind instruments providing a perfect aural rendition of cars threading their way along the expressway before a burst of chaotic electronica followed by a touch of jazz leading to the fully orchestral finale and a downbeat 'Postlude.'

Pigeonholed away in the ‘alternative’ bracket, this album doesn’t really fit anywhere on the acknowledged musical spectrum - its not a purely classical score, it’s not electro music, it’s more than just backing music. Not only that but the concept behind it is pretty mad too – who writes a suite of tunes about a motorway? Well Sufjan Stevens did and it sounds bloody good.