While Sufjan Stevens been busily not following through on his “50 States” project, with his Illinois-centric album “Illinois” released a long five years back, he’s unexpectedly tried his hand at a new medium: the experimental short film. His first was his abstract ode to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, cleverly titled, “The BQE.” It was released last year with an accompanying soundtrack. His latest effort, titled “Destroy Those Irritating Memories”, debuted at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennesse, with an accompanying live score played by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner.
The film is more of an editing experiment than a fully original work. Sufjan used long-exposure photographs of television shows on videos his step-father had him watch when he was younger, and threw them together in a fast-paced jumble. The results are abstract and mildly interesting to say the least, while considered “pointless” by one audience member.
There is footage taken from the screening, but by no means is it professional grade, nor the proper way to experience the piece. It does appear to give a solid gist, and never falls out of focus, or loses the frame. The audio of the Dessners is haunting, and reaches semi-decent quality at times. The video begins with an intro, so if you want to check it out consider starting at four minutes in.
