Column: The Best You’ve Never Heard; Deconstructionist rock operas in the Fiery Furnace
This week’s band sounds like a math problem. A hard one. But they also give me the uncontrollable urge to do the robot, and this gives me ample reason to forgive them for stirring up unfond memories of calculus.
The Fiery Furnaces is the musical outlet of brother and sister team Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger. The family element plays out strongly in their three full-length releases, each of them sounding more insular and esoteric than the last. Though the keyboard/drums dynamic isn’t new, the Fiery Furnaces completely abandon cues from Quasi and their followers by largely forsaking standard song structures and burying their hooks under layers of instrumentation, reverb, and effects.
The sound that emerges is difficult, but it isn’t impossible. Their most successfully efforts, albums like their 2004 release “Blueberry Boat” and their cleverly titled EP, “EP,” play out like deconstructionist rock operas, with seven and eight minute tracks whose frequent stylistic shifts create mock movements.
The Fiery Furnaces excel not because of their willingness to experiment, however, but because of their ability to experiment without sounding aloof or cold. In fact, the Friedbergers are at their best when they mesh reckless experimentation with their ear for good pop melody. They avoid the pretensions of similar acts by wedding the avant-garde to comfortable musical touchstones.
In short, the sound is akin to opening an art school in your parent’s basement. The Fiery Furnaces aren’t a casual listen, but they are almost always a good one. Even their worst moments – the recent collaboration with their grandmother, entitled “Rehearsing my Choir” comes to mind – are endearing in their sincerity. This is a band that calls its own shots and worries later about the public reaction. And that, whether it calls math to mind or inspires some wicked dancing, is refreshing.
Zach Pendleton’s column The Best You’ve Never Heard runs each week in Diversions. Comments can be sent to him at zachp@cc.usu.edu.