Infinite Monkeys

Furnaces and Blueberries

Pitchfork has a very cool interview with Matthew Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces today.

I consider the Furnaces' Blueberry Boat album the best released so far this century, and the articulate responses provided by Friedberger go a long way toward explaining why it's so damned good. This is a guy who knows what he wants to get out of his own music, and doesn't care whether or not it jibes with what anybody else thinks rock'n'roll is supposed to be. Most illuminating.

By the way, if you don't own a Furnaces album, and you don't mind music that takes you a few dozen listens to truly appreciate, you can't go wrong with Blueberry Boat. Complex, interestingly orchestrated pop music. Smart, storytelling lyrics filled with clever wordplay. Striking, unique vocals from sister Eleanor (it's rare that you can cite a singer's sterling diction as a reason for enjoying her vocals) with Matthew's more subdued stylings providing an interesting counterpoint.

The thing that impresses me most about Boat is how evocative the music is. Rarely, outside of classical music, have I heard such dense, detailed tunes that so vividly illustrate their settings. If you were to listen to the title track sans-lyrics, you'd still get the sense of bobbing about in a little freighter on the open sea, the sudden pirate attack, the gloomy resolve of the protagonist's ghost, consigned to haunt Davy Jones' locker with her treasured blueberry cargo. In "My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found", you can't miss the feeling of Eleanor running all over town, putting up flyers and searching her dog's old haunts. And "Birdie Brain", which bemoans the rise of such modern technologies as livery cars and steam trains, is colored with the beeping and booping of an equally antiquated Casio keyboard.

It's dense stuff, with so many musical threads woven into every minute that it will be a long time before I get tired of unravelling it. These are long, serpentine songs that might not make a lot of structural sense at first, and I don't expect everyone to want to put in the effort. Critics have called it self-indulgent, and maybe it is, and if so, who gives a crap? With the Friedbergers so clearly enjoying the hell out themselves, I'm willing to indulge their indulgence.

As far as their other albums go, Gallowsbird's Bark is also excellent, and quite a bit more accessible, with more typical song structures and none of the 8-10 minute epics that comprise most of Blueberry Boat. Bitter Tea is shaping up to be terrific as well, though I haven't listened to it enough times to compare it to the others yet. Rehearsing My Choir is a concept album about the Friedbergers' grandmother, and is said to be their most "difficult", though I haven't personally checked it out.

Posted by Poochucker at August 23, 2006 01:35 PM