October has been a big month for Sufjan Stevens (who I wrote about yesterday, if you missed it.) Run Rabbit Run dropped on the 6th, and today brings us the release of another Sufjan Stevens project - The BQE. Much like Run Rabbit Run, which is a chamber music re-imagining of Sufjan’s electronic sophomore album Enjoy Your Rabbit, The BQE is more of an interesting digression than a conventional album. Unlike Rabbit, this one actually sounds like a Sufjan Stevens record.

The BQE, which Stevens’ label describes as “a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop” was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The piece was originally performed at the in the Howard Gilman Opera House in October of 2007. Accompanying the musical score was an original film that spanned three separate screens and depicted the expressway, as well as a troupe of live hoola hoop girls called the Hooper Heroes.

Two years after its original performance, Stevens has adapted the work for a double disc format which includes both the soundtrack and the film. I will only be reviewing the musical portion because I haven’t had a chance to view the film.

Sufjan’s work has always featured complex, occasionally classically inspired arrangements. This time he goes all out, crafting a pseudo-classical symphony inspired by folk-pop, jazz, Philip Glass and 70’s era film score. It is certainly his most expansive project to date. Excluding the film, the choreography, the comic book (yes, the special edition version comes with a 40 page Hooper Heroes comic book) there are seven movements, a prelude, an introductory fanfare for the Hooper Heroes, and a postlude.

Sufjan performing The BQE

In many ways The BQE marks the return of Steven’s signature arranging style, relying heavily on brass and woodwinds and quirky, sentimental melodic themes. Run Rabbit Run was a significant departure, being performed exclusively by strings. Still conspicuously absent, however, is Stevens’ voice.  Sufjan is a gifted storyteller, and is no stranger to highly conceptual projects such as The BQE. We’re talking about the guy who once planned to write an album for each of the fifty American states. Yet, whether it was a requirement of the commission or a personal choice, Sufjan tells the tale of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway entirely through music and multi-media, rather than through words. And while part of me can’t help but feel disappointed, the result is undeniably a remarkable piece of music.

As a piece of classical music The BQE is a solid effort. He leans on many familiar conventions while sprinkling a decent helping of his own clever twists. Movement II – Sleeping Invader, for example, depicts the late night ambiance of car horns and squealing brakes by pairing the quiet rise and fall of strings with the distant rat-a-tat dissonance of a blatting trumpet. The fourth movement’s swirling synthesizers and manic dance-floor beat cut the album in half, providing a prolonged electronic interlude depicting the chaos of rush hour traffic.

At a few points it may become clear to the more discerning ear that this is Sufjan’s first foray into the classical realm. Thankfully, I am in no way a classical music aficionado (although I do love the work of Stravinsky, and more recently Philip Glass. My wife and I almost walked down the aisle to Glass’s Clouds.) I had no qualms about his handling of the genre.

The BQE is a great addition to the Sufjan Stevens catalogue, not simply for its novelty, but for its quality as well. It isn’t likely to satiate fans’ hunger for a true Illinoise follow-up, however. In the same interview I commented on yesterday, Sufjan says this in reference to The BQE:

I feel that The BQE is not really a song, it’s not really a movie, it’s not really just a soundtrack. It’s so ambiguous and diversified, it seems to lack shape. And the expressway itself lacks shape, so I feel like it’s all related to this existential crisis: Me versus the BQE, or me versus my work, y’know? And I don’t think I can win; I feel like it’s a losing battle…

Hopefully the songwriter’s existential crisis will come to a resolution soon so that the world will continue to benefit from his creations.

Listen to The BQE: Movement VI – Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges

Buy The BQE on Amazon.

The album has reigned as the prince of popular music formats for nearly a century. Yet, it’s become unclear how long this reign will last. Digital technology has transformed the way many listeners experience music and fueled a resurgence of the short-form single.

For the past several years bloggers, critics, industry pros and consumers have contributed to countless articles and comments discussing the merits of this transformation. Most of these discussions have revolved around business models and economics. If the album becomes obsolete, what will it do to industry profits? How will artists continue to make money? Conspicuously missing is any thought given to how all of this will effect music as an art-form.

I recently stumbled across an interview between Exclaim’s Vish Khanna and songwriter Sufjan Stevens that approaches the issue from a very different perspective.

For many years Sufjan Stevens was known for his prolific songwriting and ambitious projects. Between 2000 and 2006 Stevens released seven expansive albums. This month he will release two new projects, Run Rabbit Run which dropped on the 6th and multimedia set the BQEwhich will be released on the 20th. However, the last conventional album he released was back in 2005 with Come on Feel the Illinoise.

Many of his numerous fans have been wondering what’s up, and speculation came to a head a couple of weeks ago when Stevens made some comments that some took as an  announcement of retirement.

When Vish Khanna asks Stevens to clarify he quickly dispels any rumors that he is calling it quits, but he goes on to give some insight into why he has waited so long to put out a true follow-up to Illinoise.

I definitely feel like ‘What is the point? What’s the point of making music anymore?’ I feel that the album no longer has a stronghold or has any real bearing anymore. The physical format itself is obsolete; the CD is obsolete and the LP is kinda nostalgic. So, I think the album is suffering and that’s how I’ve always created—I work with these conceptual albums in the long-form. And I’m wondering, what’s the value of my work once these forms are obsolete and everyone’s just downloading music?

What does an artist do when his medium suddenly becomes irrelevant? The pundits are usually quick to urge the artist to simply switch to a new medium, because their concerns are typically focused on the business aspect. Other artists and die-hard fans will generally encourage the artist to stick to his convictions and forget about what the rest of the world is doing.

The pundits are obviously missing an important point, which is that music is not simply another product to be bought and sold. It’s an art, and the album is an art-form. The artists – and especially the fans – often forget that music is also a business and that the artist has to make money if he’s to continue making art.

So what’s a guy like Sufjan Stevens to do?

First of all, the album isn’t dead, nor is it likely to be anytime soon. Blogger hyperbole and personal existential crises aside, nobody ever said Stevens can’t continue putting out full-length conceptual epics for the remainder of his career.

It can be easy to look at the current state of the industry as a whole with all of its transitions and tribulations and lose sight of the fact that each artist and each fan’s experience is different. Just because the market is moving away from a particular format doesn’t mean everybody needs to abandon it immediately or risk becoming obsolete.

Sufjan Stevens’ fans love his work largely because of the way he has used the album format to communicate his artistic vision. If he continues to release in the album format his fans are likely to continue buying and listening to his music that way.

The same goes for any artist. Don’t get so wrapped up in the latest fashions and buzz-words that you lose sight of your own unique offering. If an established career artist like Sufjan Stevens isn’t immune to this I would imagine that many more new artists stumble get caught up in it all the time. You want to put out nothing but epic concept albums? If you can find the audience then I say go for it. You want to write 90 second musical haiku and release it in bundles of 20? If that’s what you’re passionate about and you can find a way to make it work financially, who has any right to stand in your way?

I have come to advocate a model of continual creative output where an artist releases a song or two at a time in shorter intervals for the purpose of increased fan engagement. I feel strongly about this type of release strategy because I believe it gives emerging artists the best opportunity to cultivate a strong base of core fans and keep them connected. I’m not alone in that opinion – the concept has begun to really catch on recently. But don’t confuse any one model’s acceptance with the idea that you have to give up your own vision. Maybe Sufjan Stevens would find success in smaller, more frequent releases. Or maybe he’ll come up with something completely new. But if you can’t really get behind it as an artistic form then it likely won’t work well for you anyway.

Write great music and present it in the way that best expresses what you’re trying to say. If you start there and you are serious about building your career the business models and economics will fall into place over time. Read everything you can about what is working for others and incorporate what you feel will make you successful. But don’t lose sight of your own vision and your own style in the process or you’ll risk stalling your career, in some cases before it really begins.

Here’s a recap of what went on in the music industry over the past two weeks. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Know something we don’t? Submit a story.

Most Popular:

• Copyright and music – do great artists steal? – In light of the Coldplay vs. Satriani settlement we ask the question: is it ever ok to copy another piece of music? Where is the line?
• Head of Australian recording industry on the new music business - A  perspective from the major label side of the industry.

This Week:

• New music releases – September 22, 2009 – Pearl Jam’s Backspacer, new U2, Castanets, Müm, and Monsters of Folk.
• Is your release strategy driving fan engagement – or preventing it? – A “continual stream of creative output” will help keep your fans more engaged, longer.
• New music releases – September 29, 2009 – Cymbals Eat Guitars with Why There Are Mountains, new Avett Brothers, Ghostface Killah, and the excellent soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are.
• Album review – Sufjan Stevens ‘Run Rabbit Run’ - A surprisingly engaging string quartet re-imagining of Sufjan’s all electronic sophomore album Enjoy Your Rabbit.
• Why music still needs the underground – Market cycles have compacted making it possible for music to go straight from the innovator to the mainstream. Does this mean the underground is dead?

Music Video Picks:

• Kings of Convenience ‘Boat Behind’

This Week in Music History:

1973 Phonogram announced they were increasing the price of their albums from £2.00 to £2.18 and de-luxe albums would go up from £2.29 to £2.38. Oh how things have changed… (This Day in Music.com)

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.

Here’s a recap of what went on in the music industry this week. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Know something we don’t? Submit a story.

Also check out my guest post over at www.OneMovementWord.com, the official blog of Australian music industry conference One Movement for Music Perth. One I was asked to write on the topic ‘What will it take for artist, industry and fan unite?’ That’s a rather loaded question and I’m not sure how qualified I am to answer it, but I did my best. I’ll be re-posting it here on Creative Deconstruction early next week, but I’m sure my Australian friends would appreciate it if you stopped by to check it out. Let me know what you think.

Most Popular:

Is ‘Joel Fights Back’ really the David to the RIAA’s Goliath? – Many, many people want to see the RIAA knocked down a peg, but was this the right case to try and make that happen?

Sufjan Stevens to release BQE Multi-media set in October – It seems quite a few people are anticipating new material from Sufjan.

This Week:

What the music industry and the credit crisis have in common – Some interesting and worrisome parallels I have observed…

New music releases for August 11th 2009 – Modest Mouse, Japandroids, Fruit Bats, and more.

The return of the Supergroup – Surely declining record sales have nothing to do with this, right?

Imogen Heap shows us that DIY pays off – and takes a lot of work - Some great discussion happening here over the past few days. Check it out and add your thoughts.

Music Video Picks:

Coldplay Strawberry Swing – Stunning new video. You’ll never look at sidewalk chalk the same way again.

This Week in Music History:

1977 – Elvis Presley was found dead lying on the floor in his bathroom by his girlfriend Ginger Alden, he had been seated on the toilet reading ‘The Scientific Search For Jesus’. He died of heart failure at the age of 42. His first record for RCA, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, was also his first US No.1. He starred in 31 films. Elvis holds the record for the most entries on the US Hot 100 chart with 154. (This Day in Music)

Here’s a recap of what went on in the music industry this week, or more accurately this time the last two weeks. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Notably missing is anything regarding the Joel Tenenbaum verdict last Friday – but don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of opinions about that. I’ll try to get something up on Monday or Tuesday. In the mean time, feel free to submit a story if you’ve got something that you think the Creative Deconstruction community might be interested in.

Most Popular:

5 Reasons Why the Performance Rights Act is a Bad Idea – Despite a lull in new developments recently, this bill continues to be a controversial topic. You can get a pretty good taste of that controversy in the comments section…

How to Create a Release Strategy for the New Music Marketplace - Practical tips for responding to the way fans are listening to music.

This Week:

Artist Uses Innovative Distribution Model in Ambitious Album Per Month Project – Ok, the title is way too long, but it’s an interesting case study nonetheless.

New Album Releases for July 21 – A list of the week’s best new releases.

Sufjan Stevens to Release BQE Multimedia Set October ‘09 – Stevens’ latest project involves a full orchestra, hula-hoops and the Brooklyn-QueensExpressway. Get a first look here.

How a Subscription Model Can Enhance Your Release Strategy – A follow-up to the original release strategies article.

New Album Releases for July 28 – Another list of the week’s best new releases.

This Business of Music - What happens when art and business collide.

Music Video Picks:

No new videos this week – check out the archives.

This Week in Music History:

What bigger piece of history could there be? 1986 - Peter Cetera started a two-week run at No.1 on the US charts with the theme from the film Karate Kid II, ‘The Glory Of Love.’ It made No. 3 in the UK. (This Day in Music.com)

It’s been four years this month since Sufjan Stevens released his last full record Come on Feel the Illinoise. For a man who once declared that he would release an album for each of America’s 50 states – and for the uniquely dedicated fans who follow the indie-rock wunderkind – four years is an awfully long delay.

Fans don’t have much longer to wait, however, although Stevens’ next release may not be quite what they expected. The BQE is a multimedia set based on a live performance Stevens’ put on back in November of ‘07 of the same name. Inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in New York The BQE was, at least in the words of Pitchfork, “an over-the-top affair with an orchestra, artsy footage of the highway, and hula hoops.”

Pitchfork may not have been impressed (when are they, really?) but the show was a success, selling out all three nights of it’s run at the Howard Gilman Opera House in downtown Brooklyn. So why has it taken two years to release the BQE set? Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty Records explains:

One week following the performances, Sufjan and his orchestra went into the studio to record the soundtrack, but afterwards, feeling disenfranchised by the magnitude of the universe, Sufjan decided to shelve the project. Until now. Two years later, Sufjan found inspiration to mix the music, edit the video and expand the project to include photographs, liner notes, a comic book, and a stereoscopic image reel—a multi-media package that attempts to render this much-loathed urban expressway into a conscionable work of art.

According to the press release, the two-disc album will include the original film on DVD, the original soundtrack on CD, 40 pages of photos and liner notes, and a View-Master reel, created by illustrator Stephen Halker. Oddly, the set does not appear to include footage of the original live performance.

A limited-edition vinyl version will be available as well, and will include the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl, a large-scale 32-page booklet with liner notes and photographs, and a 40-page Hooper Heroes comic book. All this will be kicked off on October 24th at 92YTribeca where they will show the film and feature a string quartet performance of selections from the upcoming “re-imagining” of Stevens’ Enjoy Your Rabbit album.

Sufjan Stevens certainly has his skeptics, but you’ve got to hand it to the man for consistently pushing the envelope. His deliberate and borderline reclusive nature in many ways contradicts the direction the rest of the industry has been heading in recent years. Yet, he has managed come up with an impressive string of innovative ideas to keep his fans engaged. Melodrama aside, the BQE should be a great example of an artist providing extra value to give fans plenty of reason to buy an album.

Here’s a preview to hold you over until October:

Here’s a recap of what went on in the music industry this week. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Know something we don’t? Submit a story.

Most Popular:

Why Free Music was Inevitable - An introductory explanation of the economics behind free music.

Resurgence of Vinyl Could be Just What the Industry Needs - Why vinyl is the perfect compliment to digital music.

This Week:

Sufjan Stevens Gives Copyright to Fan Who Won’t Copy - Another innovative idea from an innovative artist. What would you do with exclusive rights to your favorite artist’s new song?

MySpace Lays Off 30% of Employees - Is the writing on the wall for the the once dominant social networking platform?

5 Reasons Why the Performance Rights Act is a Bad Idea – The latest RIAA money-grab could have significant consequences on both the broadcasting industry, and the music industry as a whole.

Creative Culture and the Growing Copyright Extremism - How the recording industry is destroying fair use.

Music Video Picks:

Phoenix – ‘1901′

White Rabbits – ‘Percussion Gun’

Carina Round – ‘Backseat’

This Week in Music History:

1965, Bob Dylan recorded what would be his first ‘electric’ hit, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ which peaked at No.2 in the US and No.4 on the UK singles chart. (From Thisdayinmusic.com)

Related posts:

1. The Broken System: Deconstructing Music Consumption

In November 2007 Sufjan Stevens announced that he would be trading the rights to one of his latest songs for the winning entry in a contest called the Great Sufjan Stevens Song Xmas Xchange. More than 600 fans submitted original compositions and a song called ‘Every Day is Christmas’ by Alec Duffy was chosen. Duffy’s song became property of Asthmatic Kitty Records, and as promised, the rights to Stevens’ ‘The Lonely Man of Winter’ went to Duffy.

Sufjan Stevens is no stranger to innovation in both art and business, and Xmas Xchange contest stands in start contrast to the recording industry’s copyright-centric message. Here we have an artist voluntarily relinquishing his rights to his own song – not to a record label, but directly to a fan and allowing him to do whatever he wants with it. In the words of Sufjan’s Asthmatic Kitty Records website, “Sufjan’s new song becomes your song. You can hoard it for yourself, sell it to a major soft drink corporation, use it in your daughter’s first Christmas video, or share it for free on your Web site. No one except Sufjan and you will hear his song, unless you decide otherwise.”

What would you do if you won exclusive rights to you favorite artist’s new piece? Not an easy decision, and one that took Alec Duffy about a year to make. Instead of uploading the song  to the internet and sharing it freely with the world, he has chosen to protect it, keep it quiet. Duffy has recently begun holding private listening parties in the living room of his apartment. That’s right – if you want to hear the song you have to travel to Brooklyn and sit on this guy’s couch.

In an effort to counter the cheapening effects of internet all-availability,” writes Duffy on his website, ”and to recapture an era when to get one’s hands on a particular album or song was a real experience, we at Hoi Polloi would like to share this song with Sufjan fans in a special way… We would like to invite you to our Brooklyn home for an exclusive listening session of this gorgeous song, with hot beverages and cookies provided for your enjoyment.”

Duffy doesn’t charge anything to get in, but guests are required to listen to the song on headphones to prevent secret recordings being leaked onto the Internet. “This is the finest way we felt we could curate this song,” says Duffy in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, “It brings people together.”

It has certainly brought Sufjan Fans together in the blogosphere. Many have expressed dissapointment and anger over Duffy’s “snooty little tea parties,” calling him “another self-interested, self-absorbed, attention-starved, narcissistic poser claiming to serve some higher artistic truth.”

Honestly though, I think what Duffy is doing is great. Sure, I’d like to hear the song – I’m a big Sufjan Stevens fan myself. But when Duffy cites the “cheapening effects of internet all-availability” he is spot on. There are plenty of Sufjan tracks on the net. Yet, because this one isn’t, it’s special. That’s one of the things that makes this whole idea of handing a song over to a single fan such a brilliant one. Whereas the normal strategy would be to broadcast a new single to as many millions of people as possible (and this is certainly not a bad strategy, by the way) The Great Xmas Xchange has allowed ‘The Lonely Man of Winter’ to take a different route. No one would be talking about this song right now if Duffy had simply sprayed it all over the net. It would have been streamed and downloaded by all the usual suspects, added to Sufjan’s already formidable catalogue and that would be that. Instead, the song has taken on a near-mythical status and will likely stand apart from the rest of Sufjan’s work for some time.

Of course, if Sufjan Stevens himself had done this, I’m not sure if it would have the same effect. There is something pretentious about an artist withholding a song in order to create demand for it. Yet, apart from the fan fare of the contest itself, Stevens has stayed out of it and has declined to comment. This is a very creative example of an artist giving his fans the opportunity to engage with his art and letting them do the promotion for him.

“He’s like the wizard behind the curtain,” says Duffy, “If he didn’t like it, we’d be so sorry.” I wouldn’t worry so much about that, Alec. Something tells me that Stevens is more than happy with the results of his contest.

So what do you think? What would you do with exclusive rights to your favorite artists’ new song?