Rock/Pop music reviews of the week...

Sufjan Stevens

The BQE Rough Trade

Rough Trade ***

Given his much-touted earlier plans to produce an album for every state in the US, Sufjan Stevens is probably the right man for an ambitious musical take on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. What began as a blow-out for a night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music has now become a bit of a tongue-in- cheek homage to a fairly ugly slice of motorway. Released with a DVD of Stevens's film from the performance (and a very snazzy graphic art book), The BQE is a sweet, symphonic score for that flick. Just as Stevens again shows his admiration for how Philip Glass would tackle this sort of thing, he also uses brass and string pitches that you will recognise from his previous work. There are times when Stevens does seem to be striving a too hard to hit the target, yet there are enough bright and playful sounds here to reward a brief spin down this expressway. www.sufjan.com JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes, Movement II: Sleeping Invader

Mr Hudson

Mercury ***

Two years ago, Mr Hudson and the Library's easygoing indie debut was released with little fanfare or success. One person it didn't pass by, however, was Kanye West, who promptly signed the band to his label and declared Ben Hudson a genius. The transformation is extraordinary. Co-producer West's stamp is all over Straight No Chaser, not least because of his love affair with AutoTune - which works brilliantly on standout There Will Be Tears, though not so well on the overly blinged-up title track. At times West's penchant for staccato beats and effects pushes several tracks into generic r'n'b territory. Then again, although Sting soundalike Hudson definitely has an ear for a nifty pop melody, he probably would have continued to make so-so albums without his new mentor's input. www.mrhudson.com LAUREN MURPHY

Download tracks: There Will Be Tears, White Lies

The Swell Season

Strict Joy

ANTI-Records ****

After the tsunami of Once comes the remarkably expansive Strict Joy. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova have clearly ridden the rollercoaster, both professionally and personally, and this collection documents much of their picaresque adventure with grace, wit and style. Taking its title from a James Stephens poem, Strict Joyburrows deep beneath the skin of relationships, yielding a surprising degree of universality from the particulars of their personal experience. Feeling the Pullrecalls Nick Drake's conspiratorial intimacy, while Low Risinghas all of the transcendent qualities of Van Morrison in his spiritual No Guruheyday. The rest is a gloriously orchestrated set piece, playing with Beach Boys harmonies (Love That Conquers) and characterised by the divine intervention of a raft of fine musicians, including Leonard Cohen's guitarist, Javier Mas. www.theswellseason.com SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: Fantasy Man, Low Rising

David Turpin

Haunted!

Kabinet Records ***

Straddling a horse skeleton like a Victorian magician on Haunted!'s cover, Dublin musician and visual artist David Turpin continues his love affair with the macabre. Death, nature and love rejoin forces as Haunted!cements Turpin's commitment to pop, this time allowing r'n'b to sashay to the fore. Here, dancefloor fillers built on retro electronics, disco bass, synth embellishments and back-up singers sit alongside tracks such as the gloomy Red Elk(where Cathy Davey guests). Production is co-helmed by Steve Shannon (Adrian Crowley, Halfset), adding a new dynamic brightness capable of delicately shimmering or getting its funk on. Like any experiment involving r'n'b, some tracks flourish and some splutter. Either way, with unassuming ambition, playful theatre, a love of cheese and Bone Dancealready receiving airplay, Haunted!and Turpin have the public's ear. www.myspace.com/davidturpin DEANNA ORTIZ

Download Tracks: King of Swords, Bone Dance

Atlas Sound

Logos

Kranky ***

Such is Bradford Cox's prolific songwriting that he can pen tunes for both Deerhunter's hazy noise- rock and his Atlas Sound alter ego. While such output does prompt questions about quality control (just because you write 70 songs doesn't mean all 70 are worth hearing), Logosindicates that Cox is still excited about bridging the gap between melody and experimentation. Perhaps most indicative of this approach is Walkaboutwith fellow alt.rock stalwart Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox. Building on a hook from The Dovers' What Am I Going to

Do, the two work up a sweat with glitchy loops and slinky reverb. Elsewhere, Cox's manipulation of textures and layers reveal the lie of the land, and the sounds move towards the eerie, evocative electronic drift of the last Deerhunter album. www.myspace.com/bradfordcox JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Walkabout, Attic Lights

Spiral Stairs

Domino ***

For anyone who can't wait for next year's much-hyped Pavement reunion, fear not: Ex-founder Scott Kannberg returns with a stop-gap offering of solo tunes that may fill the Pavement-shaped hole in your life. Those expecting echoes of previous projects (including Preston School of Industry) won't find them here, but The Real Feelsounds like the kind of record Kannberg has long wanted to make. The album title and the bluesy recollections reflect the personal (and geographical) upheaval in the singer's life, but they can't shake off a disappointing, uneven feel. The blues/rock detours are raucous but dull, and tend to jar, but he fares better with laidback moments, such as the pedal steel air of A Mighty Mighty Fallor the heartfelt hush of Blood Money. The Real Feelhas its moments, but never hits the heights it could have. www.myspace.com/spiralstairs SINÉAD GLEESON

Download Tracks: Blood Money, A Mighty Mighty Fall

Tune-yards

Bird-Brains

4AD ***

Tune-Yards may be a one-woman band, but Merill Garbus has enough ideas rattling around in her noggin to make up for the lack of backing musicians. Your first impressions of the New Englander's debut will probably involve a lo-fi folkie wrestling successfully with a couple of different genres. While Bird-Brainsis cheap, hissy and rough around the edges (Garbus recorded the songs onto a digital video recorder and used free online software to put it all together), you certainly can't say that about the music on these muddy field recordings. Garbus, her ukulele and a battery of loops create innovative sounds and grooves that encompass down- from-the-mountains folk, raw hellbound blues, sprawling tribal jive and singular pop idioms. Even the ghosts in Garbus's tape machine add some element of magic to the uneven, fuzzy, ramshackle but undeniably charming symphonies. www. myspace.com/tuneyards JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Sunlight, Hatari