Pitchfork

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is a stretch of road that any vehicle-owning New Yorker (or anybody who's ever taken the bus to/from La Guardia) probably knows well...from being stuck in traffic on it for hours and hours.

But, apparently, it's also a source of inspiration for one Mr. Sufjan Stevens, who has been commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to write a "music and film work" titled "The BQE", which will make its world premiere at BAM's Next Wave festival November 1-3.

Here's what a press release had to say about "The BQE": Merging a virtual road trip (shot in beautiful 16mm film) with a live band and orchestral ensemble, The BQE discovers abstract patterns and stories in the snaking traffic, stunning city views, potholed pavement, billboards, and badly marked exits. The work, commissioned for the 25th Next Wave Festival, muses on an urban planning project—then controversial, now overcrowded and antiquated—that tore through neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens in a zealous period of urban development.

"The performances at BAM will also feature new songs by Stevens and orchestrated selections from his acclaimed albums."

So...does this mean the next state is New York?

As you know, Suf-jeezy has been keeping quite busy of late, mostly with writing, but also hanging out on rooftops.