The Fiery Furnaces: Strange Music For Strange People

So, I haven't really been invested in posting on the daily since I got back to Boston. It has been kind of busy. But I will be trying to review as much as I can now. Today as a treat, I will review two albums by one of my favorite modern bands, The Fiery Furnaces; a two-person brother sister group which has one of the most original sounds I've heard in a long time.

Album Review

The Fiery Furnaces
















Blueberry Boat



This album is the monolithic record which helped bring the Furnaces' sound into the eyes of a lot of people. This album is polarizing; either people love it or they hate it. It's the kind of music in which it will hit you the right way right off, or you'll turn it off because it just grates on you. My view of this album is that it is purely genius. The first track on this interesting album is "Quay Cur" a 10 minute + schizophrenic stroll through the sounds that Friedberger & Friedberger create. This song, with its sound effects and synths make the first few minutes in this purely textural sound which draws you in with it. Then Eleanor's vocals come in and begins singing about losing her childhood locket feeling like she "never never never feel like I'm safe again." That melody then gets elaborated on by the different synth sounds and harmonies, which leads into an odd guitar version of it when Matthew comes in with his vocals singing in unison with Eleanor. Then the song changes like a channel on the tv, with a upbeat guitar riff and drum hits. Which leads to the most complicated series of tongue-twisters which Matthew releases quite well. This continues for a while. One of the interesting things about the Furnaces is that each song they have has more lyrics than most songs I've ever heard. Back to an different station, slower tempo arpeggiated guitar, tambourine, and Eleanor, with a dash of synth. This song is a good table of contents to the rest of the album, it gives you an idea of what is to come. Finally, the original theme comes back to be completely and utterly dismantled in the last minutes of the song.

The album continues on its odd journey, with "Straight Street" an interestingly uptempo clearly set in a progression with a dissonant piano accompaniment. Into the title track "Blueberry Boat" another mammoth of a song, which is probably the most interesting nine minutes of pseudo-rock-operating overly-used-dashes you will ever hear. An epic tale of a ship bringing blueberries to the people of the Far East, which is attacked by pirates which leads to the storytellers death and the disintegration of the song itself. Something I really enjoy in this song is the great piano playing which comes in the last two minutes or so, which really is interesting sounding. "Chris Micheals" comes in with its cutely introduced uptempo lyrics about tacos and annoying people. the other song of note to tell you of is "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" which has great lyrics which is mainly sung by Matthew, which I enjoy quite a bit.

The only thing about this album is that it requires a serious time commitment, no matter if you're listening to one song, or the whole album. It's a monster. But I think that every second is worth a listen.

9/10

Album Review II


The Fiery Furnaces















Bitter Tea

This album is probably the popular in the mainstream, and so is attacked by those elitist indie bastards. I enjoy this album. It has aspects of Blueberry Boat, but also brings back some older ideas of catchy tunes from Gallowsbird's Bark. There is growth shown in this album. Though it is in my opinion, a great album suited for autumn, just like all other Fiery Furnaces albums.

The album goes into swing with "In My Little Thatched Hut," that goes into this groove and transforms throughout the track into the piano-driven "I'm In No Mood" which I think makes the undertone of the autumn album feel present. The song itself has three parts in it. The main chorus with the weird synth feel to it; the there's the slower bridge part at the end of the song which goes into the next song. But the interesting thing transistory theme which unites those two ideas.

The next song, on of my favorite on the album is "Black Hearted Boy" a tune which has such melodramatic qualities, even when the synth counter-melody makes its appearance. Also, I really like the lyrics in this song, speaking of cross-cut saws, painting, and a boy who's heart is as black as the creepy reverse lyrics present in the song. The use of reverse-tape vocals is really present throughout the album, which makes for an awesome effect, if that's your kind of thing (it is my kind of thing indeed). This dreary song goes into probably the happiest tune intro on the album, "Bitter Tea" comes in like a uppercut of electrified sour patch watermelons to someones glass jaw. An uptempo tune, one which could drive the non-astute ear mad. This song has one of my favorite parts of the whole album. When Matthew is singing "I am a crazy crane, I lost my true love in the rain." over and over and over again, I love it (especially the final ending chord). "Teach Me Sweetheart" a lovingly-oddball tune leads into what I assume is the Furnaces' take on doo-wop, "Waiting To Know You" with its fun 12/8 synth/real piano groove, making a canvas for Eleanor to paint over with her voice. This is probably one of the top three tunes on this album. with the outro of piano in this weird tonality, it makes for a great end to a great song.

The other two really great songs on this album are "Oh Sweet Woods"an account of a story of Eleanor being apprehended by Mormons for a pewter pocket watch which belonged to "Joseph Smith's great-great uncle's . . . brother-in-law." Which always makes me laugh. The other tune"Nevers!" is probably the biggest use of the reverse-tape-effect on this whole album, where whole verses of the song are almost indecipherable because they use the effect to have each syllable by either Matthew or Eleanor, and sometimes have the syllable going forward, sometimes in reverse. It is very complicated.

The whole idea of the genius of the Furnaces is the they have an immaculate idea of what they are doing theoretically. The fact that they have this knowledge makes it so they can create really innovative and original music from a two person band.these two albums happen to be my personal favorites but, there are many others because the Friedbergers churn out albums like a sweatshop churns out Nike high tops. Enjoy these albums.

8/10


Until next time.