Sufjan Stevens / Osso - Run Rabbit Run [Album]

Asthmatic Kitty

October 23, 2009, 10:31 AM

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The same month that saw the release of 'The BQO', a sound collage based on the Brooklyn-Queens expressway, Sufjan Stevens also released ‘Run Rabbit Run,’ a classical interpretation of his 2001 album 'Enjoy Your Rabbit'. Much as 'The BQO'. the music is performed by classical trained musicians and based on a single theme, creating an atmosphere more similar to a film score than to the average Sufjan Stevens album.

Having first performed the string versions of ‘Year of the Ox', ‘Enjoy Your Rabbit', ‘Year of the Monkey’ and ‘Year of the Tiger’ in 2007, this album sees the original ‘Enjoy Your Rabbit’ rearranged in its entity, albeit in a different following order and this time recorded live as well.

What is more though, the string quartet almost makes it a bit more conventional. Gone are the weird, indefinable sounds Sufjan Stevens used originally and though the melodies, tempos and intensity remain, as a whole it sounds more like an original film score than an original Sufjan Stevens album. And here’s the thing; despite the album cover - which says it is Steven's / Osso production - it’s pretty much just Osso covering the work of Stevens. The weirdness and complexness of the original album is completely replaced by strings. And though they do a good job, it does sound more like a film soundtrack than anything else, reducing Sufjan Stevens part to that of composer only.

In the end though, much like the original ‘Enjoy Your Rabbit,’ it is not something heavily requested by the public. The project is - in the tradition and spirit of Stevens, just something he wanted to do. And being a rare successful experimental performers of these days, it is a good thing that he did. Because there will always be a small audience waiting at the next Sufjan Stevens step, be it a folk album, experimental pop or a classical record.

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