May 2009

The Fiery Furnaces

This just in: Your overlord and master, Devin The Greatest has an IDENTICAL twin brother! ZOMG INSANE. Anywho, this edition of DoS' successfully praised "Band Highlight" has been brought to you by cslassey. Give him a round of applause, you rowdy hooligans!



Background
The Fiery Furnaces is the joint effort of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. The brother and sister duo formed in Brooklyn, NY as The Suckers in 2000. After two performances, they changed their name to The Fiery Furnaces. In 2003, they released their debut album, Gallowsbird's Bark, which was praised for its clever wordplay and original songwriting. Over the years, they've worked on their unique sound to release 8 works, with their 9th recording due this summer.

The band's live lineup has changed throughout the course of their career, with only the Friedbergers as permanent members. When on tour, Jason Loewenstein, BOB D'AMICO, and Michael Goodman join the brother and sister team. In the studio, Matthew is responsible for all of the studio instrumentation, while Eleanor handles most of the vocal duties.

Musical style
It's hard to pin-point the style of The Fiery Furnaces, as each release is very different in approach. While their debut album has garage blues and pop elements, their next LP, Blueberry Boat, takes the form of an experimental rock-opera with most tracks lasting more than 6 minutes long. In 2005, they released a radio play-like album, featuring their late grandmother, Olga Sarantos as primary vocalist. The album, Rehearsing My Choir, is mainly in spoke-word, where Olga Sarantos tells stories of her life. Their next album, Bitter Tea is more conventional, and by far their most accessible album to date. 2007 saw Widow City, which brought The Fiery Furnaces back to their experimental roots. So it's pretty much safe to say that they are a highly experimental rock group.

In 2008, The Fiery Furnaces released a double-disc live compilation album titled Remember, which captures the feel of their performances. It also demonstrates how the band re-writes their music for each of their tours. The only consistencies are the lyrics and basic melody. The tempo, arrangements, and instrumentation are all reworked and re-imagined to make brand new versions of the recorded works. The band remains one of the most originals bands I have ever listened to, and I hope you think so, too.

Music samples

Ex-Guru

Duplexes Of The Dead

Chief Inspector Blancheflower

Tropical Iceland

Article written by Connor.