The Southern Theater presents Osso & Sufjan Stevens' The BQE

String quartet with a modernist pulse, members of the New York- and Berlin-based Osso have built dramatic arrangements in collaboration with an array of artists and genres, including Jay-Z, Alice and Ravi Coltrane, The New Pornographers, Antony and The Johnsons, The Polyphonic Spree, The National, Devotchka and Kanye West. Their interpretation of Sufjan Stevens' eccentric electronica album Enjoy Your Rabbit -each song named for a year of the Chinese zodiac-recomposes computer keystrokes into rhythmic classical arrangements, bridging the drama of indie rock and the nuance of chamber harmonies. The result is Run Rabbit Run-arranged by Stevens expressly for Osso-to be released on Asthmatic Kitty Records October 6.

Osso began as members of My Brightest Diamond, playing concerts that included segments of baroque aria amidst a set of Shara Worden's haunting songs. In 2005 Osso recorded string parts for My Brightest Diamond's Bring Me the Workhorse and Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, and continues to perform with both bands.

Sufjan Stevens' The BQE is a 40-minute symphonic and cinematic exploration of the infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, a major traffic artery that severed neighborhoods and contoured waterways with the brute force of modern urban planning. Commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy Of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival in November 2007, the film tells a quintessentially American tale through an original film and recorded score by Stevens. More information and film preview at http://asthmatickitty.com/news.php?newsID=478.

On the heels of his first release, Heavy Ghost (Asthmatic Kitty), DM Stith brings his "uplifting, beautifully addictive" music to the Southern Theater for a listening party that promises to be "like nothing you've heard before" (The Guardian). Instrumental crescendos and eerie vocals encase lyrics gripping and poignant in Stith's masterfully devastating songs. Expect to see much more from this artist on the rise in years to come.

Show time: Thurs. October 29 at 7:30pm. Pre-show reception: 6:30pm, sponsored by The Red Stag Supperclub providing Grainbelt & Schells beer and OKO organic wines. Tickets: $22. The Southern Theater box office is located at 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55454, and can be reached at 612.340.1725.

For more information, contact Kate Nordstrum, External Relations Director and Music Programming Director at Southern Theater, 612.340.0155 ext. 314, or via email at kate@southerntheatre.org

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