As if his plan to write an album about each state of America wasn’t grandiose enough, Sufjan Stevens has elected to zoom in on the map and compose a symphony about a single road.

B.Q.E. is Stevens’ attempt to represent the Brooklyn-Queensway Expressway in music. Having never traversed said highway I wouldn’t be in a position to accurately assess whether or not he has been successful in his aim and I doubt very much that drivers who travel along its 11.7 miles every day would nod knowingly and say “Yup, he’s definitely nailed it.” But, what he has achieved is a vast sweeping symphony which stands as a success musically as much as any of his other output.

There’s one brief wobble in Introductory Fanfare For The Hooper Heroes, which sounds like it belongs on a Disney soundtrack, but that aside, the whole piece is beautifully orchestrated and pieced together, swooning and fluttering through 40 or so minutes.

As an entity, Stevens’ B.Q.E. has been around for a couple of years since it premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2007 but has now been issued as part of a multi-media boxed set which also includes a DVD, an essay, a comic book and a View-Master reel.

As paeans to stretches of tarmac go, it’s infinitely more listenable than Route 66 – you can insert your own ‘it’s streets ahead’ joke.

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