please excuse this.

I want to learn a new instrument. It has 5 strings, a round body, an embarrassing stereotype, and makes this sound: ptwaaaang, ptwang twang

Banjo! First of all, Sufjan plays banjo and banjo is a major instrument in many of Sufjan’s songs (Vito’s Ordination Song [acoustic version], For the Widows In Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti, and Seven Swans, to name just a few). Sometimes guitar is just not a good substitute. It’s an uncommon instrument with a unique, unusual sound, and not many people play it, which are all selling points for me. Banjo sounds weird even when played perfectly, so even if it takes me a while to become proficient, not everyone will know.

And I have Sufjan news. Sufjan is playing at the ATP festival on September 12th. The ATP festival is in New York. This is Sufjan’s first concert in two years. I feel I need to be there. This would cost me a fortune: the ticket itself is $100, plus airfare, somewhere to stay, things to eat. Frugal as I am, I don’t even care. This is so important, I would spend it all. But the thing is, I know I can’t go by myself, and I don’t know anyone who loves Sufjan so much they would drop everything, and hundreds of dollars, to see him play a short-ish festival set. I am dilemma’d.

When people ask me “Where’s Sufjan? What’s he doing? When’s the next album? What’s the next state?” my answers are usually pretty disappointing: “In Brooklyn. Taking a break from the music scene, perhaps writing symphonies and short stories, and admiring the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Regarding an album release, probably not soon. The State project was too ambitious and he knew that when he started it, he’s in no rush to finish all 50. I’m hoping he does an album about birds (his newer songs include Majesty, Snowbird, and The Lord God Bird).”

But there’s news on that front as well: Sufjan is releasing something on October 20, 2009. It’s called The BQE and it’s not an album but a video and musical tribute to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. How very Sufjan to base a project of this size on a stretch of city highway. The album itself will include a CD of the soundtrack, the DVD itself, a booklet and a “stereoscopic image reel”. Though I won’t be here when he releases it, I am very excited to hear something. No matter what it is, I’m sure I’ll adore it. I even like his album Enjoy Your Rabbit, which was very ill-received.

Watch the trailer for The BQE here. Mysterious, cheery, brassy, and a bit odd, just as I like him.

<object width=”400″ height=”225″><param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /><param name=”movie” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5682252&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=0&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1″ /><embed src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5682252&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=0&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” width=”400″ height=”225″></embed></object><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/5682252″>THE BQE- A Film By Sufjan Stevens</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/asthmatickitty”>Asthmatic Kitty</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>