DM STITH CONCLUDES TRILOGY OF EP’S WITH BRAID OF VOICES

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Asthmatic Kitty artist DM Stith completes his trilogy of EP’s with Braid of Voices (December 8). This EP is the final third part of the trilogy—BMB was released in July, Thanksgiving Moon was released November 3—following Stith’s debut album Heavy Ghost, which received international critical acclaim upon its release in March. NPR called the LP “complex… [containing] inventive songs,” while Entertainment Weekly proclaimed it “one of the strongest debut albums I’ve heard.”

The first EP in Stith’s trilogy, BMB, features covers of The Ronettes and Randy Newman and remixes by Roberto Lange of Helado Negro and Savath & Savalas and Son Lux. With Thanksgiving Moon and Braid of Voices, Stith furthers this approach of combining near-to-heart covers with re-worked originals and remixes by friends.

The Thanksgiving Moon EP starts with the original demo that was first recorded for Stith’s Heavy Ghost LP (it was also this song that ended up flapping around the Asthmatic Kitty offices, resulting in the label commissioning Stith to finish an album). Written as a reflection of the landscape of Western New York, “Thanksgiving Moon” marked a new direction in Stith’s songwriting. The EP also features Stith’s cover of David Byrne’s “A Soft Seduction,” are-worked version of his own “Pigs” featuring a marching band and “Thanksgiving Moon” remixes by Michna (Ghostly International) and label-mate Rafter.

The original “Braid of Voices” is the climax to Stith’s Heavy Ghost album. For the Braid of Voices EP he has distilled the song to its essentials while maintaining what Pitchfork called a “stunning emotional catharsis.” He performs a cover of Diane Cluck’s “Easy To Be Around” while “Abraham’s Song,” taken from Stith’s debut release Curtain Speech EP, receives a remix by experimental electronic artist Bibio. FatCat glitch artist and Bjork collaborator, Ensemble, and Warp recording artist Clark also offer re-imagined version of Stith songs. The EP ends with a free-jazz version of “Wig,” featuring label-mates I Heart Lung.

Stith’s musical career began in Brooklyn contributing design help on Shara Worden’s albums, as well as backup vocals and piano to songs on Bring Me The Workhorse. During that period Stith began composing his own work tapping into an earlier passion. Worden encouraged him to share his private songs with Asthmatic Kitty Records, and after hearing only two demo songs, the label invited Stith to write and record an album. Stith currently resides in Bloomington, IN, where he is pursuing an MFA.

BMB TRACK LIST
1. BMB (Alternate Version)

2. Around The Lion Legs (Slow Dance Version)

3. BMB (Roberto C. Lange Remix)

4. BMB (Son Lux Remix)

5. Suzanne (Randy Newman Cover)

6. Be My Baby (Ronettes Cover)

7. Untitled

Thanksgiving Moon TRACK LIST

1. Thanksgiving Moon (Demo)

2. Pigs (feat. Jefferson Street Band)

3. Thanksgiving Moon (Michna Remix)

4. A Soft Seduction (David Byrne Cover)

5. Thanksgiving Moon (Rafter Remix)

6. Untitled (Lacuna B)

7. Thanksgiving Moon (Cover by Dayna Kurtz)

Braid of Voices TRACK LIST

1. Braid of Voices (Brass Version)

2. Easy to be Around (Diane Cluck Cover)

3. Braid of Voices (Clark Remix)

4. In My dreams, I Watch TV (Braid of Voices remixed by Ensemble)

5. Abraham’s Song (Bibio Remix)

6. I Heart Wig (featuring I Heart Lung)

SUFJAN STEVENS PRESENTS THE BQE

SUFJAN STEVENS PRESENTS THE BQE
CD/DVD WITH VIEWMASTER® REEL, 180-GRAM VINYL
WITH COMIC BOOK DUE OCTOBER 20 VIA
ASTHMATIC KITTY RECORDS

“[The BQE] uses swirling, glimmering Romantic orchestration (by way of soundtracks and 1950s pop) to make [Stevens’] private ruminations more quizzical and more alluring at the same time.”
—The New York Times

“Stevens’ film and score managed to turn the city into an object of such joy it felt like an honor to be from the place.”—ARTslanT

Sufjan Stevens premiered The BQE, a film and musical suite exploring New York City’s infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in November 2007. The critically applauded performance featured 36 performers including a band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, a horn section, projected film footage of the expressway and five hula hoopers. On October 20, Asthmatic Kitty Records will release The BQE (also available via Rough Trade in the UK, P-Vine in Japan, Spunk in Australia).

The comprehensive package features the CD soundtrack, the DVD of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway film footage, a 40-page booklet with extensive liner notes & photographs and an accompanying stereoscopic 3-D Viewmaster® reel. Furthermore, Asthmatic Kitty will release a limited edition double gatefold vinyl edition of The BQE on 180-gram vinyl with a large-scale 32-page booklet including liner notes, photographs and a black and white version of a 40-page BQE-themed Hooper Heroes comic book. View a video trailer of The BQE here: vimeo.com/5682252.

On October 24, 92YTribeca will host the premiere screening of The BQE DVD with an introduction by Stevens. At the screening, the Osso Quartet will perform selections from Run Rabbit Run. Tickets for this event go on sale July 23 via http://www.92y.org/92yTribeca/default.asp.

The concept behind The BQE is based largely on the history of New York’s Brooklyn-Queens Expressway—12.7 miles of urban roadway built between 1939 and1964 by master urban planner Robert Moses. The Viewmaster®, unveiled at the 1939 NYC World’s Fair (the World’s Fair being part of the motivation for the construction of the BQE, funneling New Yorkers to and from Flushing, Queens), was intended to promote 3-D panoramic illusions of the American landscape and serve as advertising for various tourist destinations and motivation for American drivers. The Hooper Heroes comic book, written by Stevens and drawn, colored and inked by collaborator Stephen Halker, follows three extra-terrestrial superhero sisters who use hula-hoops to combat “the Messiah of Civic Projects,” Captain Moses.

Sufjan Stevens has released seven studio recordings since 2000 including Michigan and Illinois, the first two entries in an epic series of 50 recordings each based on a different U.S. state; a 5-EP Christmas box set; and Enjoy Your Rabbit, an instrumental electronic song cycle based on the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Run Rabbit Run, a recording of Enjoy Your Rabbit rearranged for the Osso String Quartet, is due October 6 via Asthmatic Kitty. Stevens has also collaborated with fellow indie pop acts Danielson Famile, Rosie Thomas, Denison Witmer, My Brightest Diamond and many others.