So, I went out on Friday (with a girl and everything!) to go see the Fiery Furnaces. I had seen them earlier this spring and wanted to see what they were up to. Besides, they were playing at Cafe du Nord and I enjoy any excuse to go there. There was a slight chance some Bull associate would be there but I did not see any representatives (I think they knew they would not be able to go mano a mano with a WRN representative).
I have to give the FF credit. They sounded completely different on Friday from when I saw them less than six months ago. The piano-ish, lighter prog got replaced with some heavier drumming and a serious bass line. The good news: Emily still sounds like emily and wears long shaggy hair with a jean jacket and has a voice that makes you remember why The Pretenders were cool. Matt still manages to flail away on the keyboard and I think of him as some bizarre songwriting monster.
Their new album (they played most of it, they said) seems to use that thematic stealing again. However, I'm not sure that it works as well. Since they did actually stop between songs it makes it almost confusing when a riff from thre songs ago pops back up later. I didn't think the new songs were quite involved enough to benefit from that particular trick. Maybe that will change with some more listens and as the band is more familiar with the songs. Emily had a music stand with the lyric sheets for the 'Rehearsing A Choir' songs. I'm definitely curious to know how the CD sounds.
Alright, so it's not really a great review. It was a decent show but I was a little disappointed with the sound but I kind of think I was a victim of expectations. I will definitely get their CD and see if I still feel the same since now I will expect it to be heavier than Blueberry Boat.
posted by fulsome @ 10:06 PM
