creative deconstruction

Album Review: Sufjan Stevens ‘Run Rabbit Run’

Posted on 29. Sep, 2009 by refe in ARTISTS, NEWS

There’s a world of quirky indie-folk out there, and Sufjan Stevens is its king. His ‘wunderkind’ status may be a stretch – the guy is in his thirties, after all – but there is no question about Sufjan’s skill and creativity as a songwriter. Diverse arrangements, complex characters and themes of spirituality and Americana are the common threads that run through the majority of his seven studio albums.

The glaring exception was Sufjan’s sophomore release Enjoy Your Rabbit. Enjoy Your Rabbit is fully instrumental, fully electronic and a complete departure from the Gaelic-inspired folk rock of his debut A Sun Came.

In the words of his recent press release:

Enjoy Your Rabbit seemed less like a sophomore slump or a sophomore smash than an entertaining divergence. It was not, however, what you might call a good career move. Not that Sufjan had a music career at all.

Now, eight years later, Sufjan has revisited this strange-cousin record with his upcoming release Run Rabbit Run.

Run Rabbit Run is a complete re-arranging and re-imagining of its electronic predecessor for performance by the string quartet Osso. Sufjan commissioned a series of composers to write new arrangements for the fourteen songs of the original album (minus ‘Year of the Asthmatic Cat.’) Each song was then tweaked and modified by the players – electronic clicks, beats and noise were interpreted with scrapes of the bow or clicking tongues.

The result is pretty surprising.

Sufjan Stevens at the Independent Music Awards

I’ve been a fan of Sufjan Stevens since first experiencing Seven Swans for the first time in 2004. Since then I have worn out my copies of Welcome to Michigan and Come on Feel the Illinoise. Nevertheless, when I first got wind of his plans for Run Rabbit Run I was skeptical, at best. The move seemed pretentious – like he had lost touch a little bit. I thought perhaps it was just filler until he released a real record.

When I finally got to hear it for myself I was instantly drawn in. This album is every bit as incongruent as its predecessor. It’s unusual textures and effects weave an engaging experience that is sometimes beautiful, sometimes playful, and often downright strange.

The shadow of electronica can still be felt throughout the arrangements, such as in the jarring transitions of ‘Year of the Tiger’ and the club-synth-cum-violin of ‘Year of the Dog.’

The effect is more than a little reminiscent of the work of Philip Glass (in fact, one of the album’s many contributing composers is Nico Muhly, who has worked extensively with Glass on past projects.)

Members of Osso

Osso approaches the material with capable hands and a sense of humor that seems to ground the album. The ensemble is no stranger to unique challenges, having collaborated with a variety of artists including Jay-Z, The New Pornographers, The National and Kanye West.

Sufjan Stevens’ influence is not absent of course, thought it is obscured a bit by the nature of the project. I for one associate Sufjan much more with woodwinds and brass than with strings. ‘Year of the Dog,’ which I mentioned earlier, is by far the most Sufjan-esque. It may have even sounded at home as one the extras on Avalanche.

Some will likely pass off Run Rabbit Run as simply a diversion to hold fans over until The BQE (also set to be released in October.) But I think it’s quite a bit more than that – it’s an engaging and often beautiful collection of music from the minds and hands of a host of talented musicians.

Listen to ‘Enjoy Your Rabbit’ from Run Rabbit Run.

Run Rabbit Run is set to be released on October 6, 2009 by Asthmatic Kitty Records.

Sufjan photo by Zach Klein.

Tags: albums, Asthmatic Kitty, reviews, Run Rabbit Run, Sufjan Stevens