Fiery Furnaces Are Coming Back
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 8, 2009 7:40PM
The Fiery Furnaces may now hail from Brooklyn but they were born in Oak Park, sprouting from the fertile crowns of brother and sister team Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. They've made their name creating markedly disjointed music, only recently cutting the artifice with steadier and more traditional drumming alongside the occasional glam chord. Their last album, Widow City, found the band finally channeling their weirdness through undeniable pop structures pocked with indelible melodies. To be honest, it was the first Fiery Furnaces album we honestly liked from start to finish.
Their follow up, I'm Going Away, continues along the same vein, offering up the band's twisted take on California rock through the orange highlights of Ziggy Stardust. Eleanor handles the vast majority of the singing, and in the past she's been known for her rushed delivery, cramming seven syllables into a half-beat, and while she still employs that tactic here, she releases the tension by following those sound avalanches with distinctly hummable choruses.
The band's attack as a whole is becoming ever more traditional, with tunes like "Staring At The Steeple" not so subtly winking at the predecessors. Naturally, in The Fiery Furnaces hands', traditional ain't exactly boring, and the group finds ways to play with and twist their more classic rock leanings into something straight out of the early-'90s Matador catalog.
The Fiery Furnaces return to Chicago for a trio of engagement over the next three days. Thursday finds them rocking out The Hideout, Friday they hunker down next to their hometown at Fitzgerald's, and Saturday they play Millennium Park as part of its Great Performers of Illinois Series. Live, the group tends to stray far from th album arrangements of their catalog, so each show tends to offer up a surprising array of new and unexpected interpretations of their songs. So even if you don't like the band's disc, you might just dig 'em live.