Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away

[bloop]

The Fiery Furnaces - "Even in the Rain"

This is just my best guess from a first listen, but I think this will be the new phorum favorite of theirs.

[murlough23]

The Fiery Furnaces - "Even in the Rain"

This is just my best guess from a first listen, but I think this will be the new phorum favorite of theirs.

I'd be glad to like anything new from them at all.

[bloop]

They are rather quick on releasing albums.  Blueberry Boat was released in 2004, and that was five albums ago!

[murlough23]

They are rather quick on releasing albums.  Blueberry Boat was released in 2004, and that was five albums ago!

Are you counting EP? (You probably should. It was better than some of their actual albums.)

[bloop]

I am counting EP (it's not really an EP's length), but not the live album.  I don't think I ever listened to Rehearsing My Choir (I think that's what the one with the grandmother was called).

[murlough23]

I am counting EP (it's not really an EP's length), but not the live album.

Agreed. It played more or less like an album, especially due to the opening "trilogy".

I don't keep close tabs on all of their odds and ends, but I think I've listened to everything major that they've done aside from Gallowsbird's Bark (which I just plain never got around to) and Rehearsing My Choir (which I intentionally ignored). Unfortunately, that includes the live album.

[Josh]

I'll say that I, personally, like the new Furnaces best of all their albums.

And I think all of us will agree that it's, at the very least, their best since Blueberry Boat. For some, maybe even the best since Gallowsbird Park.

[murlough23]

I'll say that I, personally, like the new Furnaces best of all their albums.

And I think all of us will agree that it's, at the very least, their best since Blueberry Boat. For some, maybe even the best since Gallowsbird Park.

I'm still partial to Bitter Tea, though I do have a lot of admiration for Blueberry Boat. (My favorite Fiery Furnaces albums tend to get measured by how easy it is to stomach the albums' most difficult tracks, since all of them have songs that I love. Except for Widow City, which just sucks.)

[bloop]

I don't think Widow City sucks, but they have other albums that do everything it does better.  This one occupies a space as accessible as I can imagine them being.

[Josh]

I don't think Widow City sucks, but they have other albums that do everything it does better.  This one occupies a space as accessible as I can imagine them being.

Yes... but still very loopy and strange by most other standards.

It's a very craftman-like album... which, as you might know, I love.

[murlough23]

It's a very craftman-like album... which, as you might know, I love.

I'm not even sure what "craftman-like" means. To me that implies carefully and meticulously crafted by the artist rather than churned out by an assembly line. And sure, the Fiery Furnaces are about as far from the assembly line as you could get, and I'm sure they're intentional even in their sloppiness. But Widow City only strikes me as "craftman-like" in the sense that building half of a chair, gluing a wooden totem pole head to one side of it, smashing it against the wall, and then burning the entire thing in effigy is "craftman-like".

NP: "In Love", Jon Foreman

[bloop]

A note of clarification:  I'm pretty sure Josh is referring to I'm Going Away as "craftsman-like".

[murlough23]

A note of clarification:  I'm pretty sure Josh is referring to I'm Going Away as "craftsman-like".

Oh, okay. I'll have to track that one down. I'd still like to know what that term means, though. I'd expect nearly any album created by an artist who was granted creative freedom by their label (or the lack of a label) with no pressure to make hits to be "craftsman-like" - i.e. the creative work of someone who loved the act of creating it.

NP: "Something in the Way that You Are", The Reign of Kindo

[bloop]

I think that's about the part that Josh can clarify himself, but I think I know roughly what he means (and I think he means to draw some contrast between the new album and their back catalog).

[Josh]

Yeah, my comments were directed at I'm Going Away-- sorry to be confusing.

And when I say it's a craftman-like album, I mean there's a certain sense of method and deliberation to it, as though the Furnaces are very carefully applying lessons they've learned from their other albums-- and from listening to other bands-- as opposed to simply recording every musical belch and fart that they come up with. I almost use the term here as the opposite of self-indulgent.

Widow City, on the other hand, is a very indulgent record, I think. Blueberry Boat is, too, of course, but there's also a lot of craft there in terms of how the songs fit together.

[bloop]

Yeah, basically, there are only hints of the kitchen sink approach they previously used (and occassionally abused).  It's a much tighter, more focused album - and it suits them well.

[murlough23]

And when I say it's a craftman-like album, I mean there's a certain sense of method and deliberation to it, as though the Furnaces are very carefully applying lessons they've learned from their other albums-- and from listening to other bands-- as opposed to simply recording every musical belch and fart that they come up with. I almost use the term here as the opposite of self-indulgent.

That clears things up greatly, and I agree with it.

Widow City, on the other hand, is a very indulgent record, I think. Blueberry Boat is, too, of course, but there's also a lot of craft there in terms of how the songs fit together.

Blueberry Boat is a record that I've come to appreciate more over the years than when I first listened to it - probably because it was my introduction to the Furnaces and it was very disorienting at first, so it was harder to appreciate behemoth tracks like "Quay Cur" and "Blueberry Boat" that I only liked parts of then, but like pretty much all of now. The album still has its share of annoying squiggles and interrupted thoughts, but for the most part it seems well-crafted. It just takes some getting used to.

The reason I cite Bitter Tea as my favorite is because it seems to strike the balance best between experimentation and continuity. Despite how all-over-the-map that album is, there are a lot of connecting threads that make most of the songs play like a suite, and there are a lot of screwed-up hooks that get stuck in my head - moreso than any other Furnaces album. If they simply dumped "The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry" (which is B-side material at best) and moved the more concise versions of "Nevers" and "Benton Harbor Blues" into the main track listing, it'd be a formidable creation.