I woke up today tired, but
forgetting my music listening device and having to race home and get it and
then back out to catch the bus got the blood pumping. It could have been
stressful, but instead I made the bus and have felt energized all day.
Disc 1019 is…Gallowsbird’s Bark
Artist: The Fiery
Furnaces
Year of Release: 2003
What’s up with the Cover? Dog meets goat. Dog is looking a
little bit agro, with a tongue hanging out and a steady stare, but Goat doesn’t
seem impressed. I can only conclude that these two are on the knife edge of
either killing each other or making out.
How I Came To Know It: An employee of Ditch Records (Griffin)
recommended this album after learning I liked another of their albums (2007’s “Widow
City”). I’ll admit that I checked out their whole catalogue after that, and
Griffin was right; this was the best one I didn’t already have. I went back and
bought it.
How It Stacks Up: The Fiery Furnaces have nine studio albums,
but I only have two – this one and 2007’s “Widow City”. It is close, but I’m
putting “Gallowsbird’s Bark” second. It is better overall, but “Widow City” has
a few more of my favourite songs.
Ratings: 3 stars
By all
my usual measures and rules I should not like “Gallowsbird’s Bark.” It is full
of things I don’t like: complicated arrangements, jazz, techno, and frenetic
beats that pound about and threaten anxiety. It’s even too long. Yet despite all
this I can’t help myself; this record is too good to be denied.
The
Fiery Furnaces consists of siblings Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. Matthew is
a mad genius who plays most of the instruments and writes the songs. Eleanor is
the principal singer who carries the tune – more on that later.
Matthew
creates music that is crazed and frantic, and you are liable to hear almost
anything in these short, strange little pop songs. You’ll get samples, crashing
drums, jazz piano, hand claps and occasionally even an ordinary electric guitar.
It can seem jarring and directionless when you first hear it, but once your ear
has acclimated (which doesn’t take long) you start to hear the genius amid all
the jumble of sound.
Once you
are aurally invested, you’ll realize what you are hearing isn’t a jumble, but
instead a clever collection of syncopation and beats. Like James Brown, the
Fiery Furnaces treat every instrument like a drum, each one punctuating a tiny
piece of the song, and together creating a panoply of sound.
None of
this would work without the sweet tone of Eleanor’s voice. She has a natural
pop vocal power, and a rich full tone. She can deliver lyrics in either a
jazzed up spoken word style, or a sweet melody, as the song demands. Sometimes
the song demands both, and she makes that work too.
Eleanor Friedberger
is how I came to know the band in the first place. I heard her solo albums
(which are much more straightforward indie pop) and fell in love. I only discovered
the band by the happy accident when the record store didn’t have any of her
solo work and desperate, I took a chance on the band.
It was a
shock to the system for a guy who likes his rock and roll to rock out and his
folk simple and sweet. Even simpler songs, like “Two Fat Feet” are still a blend of styles (in this case, a laid
back blues riff, a jazz piano and some kind of early eighties new Wave vocal
performance from Eleanor). Against the odds, the Fiery Furnaces make songs like
this work.
Before I
wax too poetic, it is worth noting that when you are pushing the envelope this
often there are times when your reach is going to exceed your grasp. Sometimes
in their press to be clever the song can lose its way, or take too many paths
at once. Even when this happens it is still interesting to the ear. Also, when
you are in doubt or feel you’re losing the plot just fasten your ears onto Eleanor’s
vocals. The songs are designed to let her carry the melody. Once you’ve recovered
your bearings feel free to range back into the soup of sound that Matthew has
prepared for the more adventurous.
When
they play it more straight, such as on “Tropical
Ice-Land” they demonstrate they are perfectly capable of writing an
(almost) traditional pop song. With its easy strumming acoustic guitar, the
easy rise and fall of the melody and Eleanor’s sugary delivery of the lyrics,
this could have been a radio hit but alas, it is just a bit too complicated
even still. Also, the band decides to drop a counter-melody in about halfway
through, and layer the whole thing with some chirping bird samples. They just
can’t resist.
The
album is only 46 minutes which is about right, but at 16 tracks, each of them
heavily laden with a lot of musical concepts, it is a little tiring. Also,
while the album is chock full of interesting imagery, it rarely adds up to a
narrative you can follow for long. Usually that would bother me as well, but
with the way these songs work, building too much logical flow into the words would
detract from some of its energy.
“Gallowsbird’s
Bark” is definitely not for everyone, but if you like your pop on the
experimental side this is something you’re going to enjoy a lot. It even won
over a meat-and-potatoes guy like me.
Best
tracks: I’m
Gonna Run, Up in the North, Don’t Dance Her Down, Crystal Clear, Two Fat Feet,
Tropical Ice-Land, We Got Back the Plague
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