#9
The Fiery Furnaces
Widow City
Another year, another noteworthy release from precocious indie-rock iconoclasts, siblings Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger. As with 2006’s Bitter Tea, Widow City further explores the unpredictable, highly distinctive and just plain weird musical palette The Fiery Furnaces introduced with their brilliant sophomore release, Blueberry Boat.
All the expected ingredients are here, from the picaresque song structures and enigmatic lyrics, riddled with obscure historical and geographic references, obsession with minutiae and numerous spoken asides, to the heavy use of murky vintage keyboards.
However, Widow City does offer up some genuine surprises, like the heavily Led Zeppelin-influenced riffing of “Navy Nurse” and the slow and sweet minor blues of “Restorative Beer,” which hearkens back to the duo’s debut album, Gallowsbird’s Bark. And if “My Egyptian Grammar” comes dangerously close to sounding like a retread of “Evergreen” off the Furnaces’ 2005 EP, for the most part the group continues to push its sound in new, oftentimes shockingly original directions—displaying an admirable commitment to the unconventional and a complete lack of compromise.
Most importantly, with Widow City, The Fiery Furnaces have added yet another fascinating and strangely enjoyable album to their already impressive catalog. Here’s to more odd treats from the Friedbergers in 2008.
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