CD Odyssey Disc 1846: The Fiery Furnaces
This band is not famous enough to do whatever the hell they want on their records, but they do it anyway
Fresh from the record store I have returned home with three prizes – one old album (Cinderella) and two new ones (James McMurtry, Wet Leg). If you would like to hear about these records you will…have to wait. Reviewing order occurs randomly here at the CD Odyssey. While you wait, here is a weird and obscure band from Brooklyn to keep you entertained.
Disc 1846 is…Bitter Tea
Want to read how albums are selected and what the ratings mean? Click my introductory post and learn more. Earlier reviews dating back to 2009 are at A Creative Maelstrom (my blog).
Artist: The Fiery Furnaces
Year of Release: 2006
What’s up with the Cover? This cover promises a lovely cup of tea – but no! A dark cloud has something to say about that and despite having the shape of a comment bubble, all we have to go on is a few streams of black rain drops. It is going to be very hard to determine just what the cloud’s message is.
It is a fine summary of what to expect from this record.
How I Came To Know It: As I’ve noted on previous Fiery Furnace reviews, I was a fan of Eleanor Friedberger’s solo work and they were recommended to me by the friendly and well-informed staff at my local record store.
I was done with Fiery Furnaces over the last few years, but when I saw a used copy of “Bitter Tea” at a bargain price I succumbed. It’s always a good day to invite a little weird into your life.
How It Stacks Up: The Fiery Furnaces have released 7 LPs and 1 EP over their career, but I only have three of them. Of those three, I must put “Bitter Tea” in at third. Bitter news, but something had to be last.
Ratings: 3 stars but warning – if you make your decisions based jut on the rating I provide and then move on, this might be one of those times you read deeper. I mean, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but you need to know what you’re in for.
Brace yourself and then dive into the bat-shit crazy musical salad that is the Fiery Furnaces. This band is not famous enough to do whatever the hell they want on their records, but they do it anyway.
On my first couple of listens to “Bitter Tea” I began to wonder, “is this just a test of some kind?” As if this were music that dares you to prove that you are ‘with it’, ‘willing to experiment’ or maybe just tough enough to take the assault on regular songwriting sensibilities and not complain lest you be labelled that thing all music aficionados fear most: “uncool”.
If you’re new to the Fiery Furnaces, they are composed of siblings Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. Eleanor is possessed of a sweet and whimsical vocal that makes every word she sings a birdlike trill of joy. Matthew is possessed of a dark and twisted musical genius determined to push your love of Eleanor’s vocals to the absolute breaking point.
I imagine composing for “Bitter Tea” went something like this. Eleanor and Matthew come up with an idea for a song. Maybe a snippet of a lyric and a melody. Next, they apply various treatments to make that song hard to listen to. First some discordant beats are added. Fucked up enough yet? No. Then do more. Maybe some random sounds, and abrupt right turns to interrupt the flow. Maybe take Eleanor’s vocals and play them backwards so they’re unintelligible. ‘Yes, now we’re getting somewhere!’ the Friedberger’s exclaim, steepling their fingers and cackling as they imagine the puzzled looks of the listener, trying to stay cool and act like they are totally OK with all this batshittery.
Other examples of bands determined to do whatever they want and expecting you to like it include Anaal Nathrak and Miles Davis. I like neither of these bands, as I find clever for its own sake painful, boring, or both.
So imagine my surprise as this odd and often awkward experimentation began to grow on me. Yes, it helps that Eleanor’s vocals are sublime. And after a few opening songs so weird they practically double-dare you to give up, you are rewarded as her vocals shine through the “treatments”, like some princess keening out beauty from an isolated tower in the farthest corner of Dr. Frankenstein’s castle.
But also, all that crazy treatment grows on you. There is an awkward beauty to this music, and there is just enough melodic structure to draw you through the chaos, albeit while startling your ears enough that you are forced to look around. “Teach Me Sweetheart” will lilt as prettily as any other indie pop song of merit and “Oh Sweet Woods” has a funky beat that is 100% danceable and survives through the majority of the song. Do they resort to backwards vocals at one point? Annoyingly, they do, but they also add hand claps to mitigate the discomfort.
Right when I was prepared for a full embrace, along came “Whistle Rhapsody” which, at 2:30 inserts 15 seconds of what I can only assume is a fire alarm going off (on headphones this is literally painful) and then a slow fadeout of feedback squawk that sounds like a baby crying. There’s just no reason for this. Downgrading occurred.
But then, before you know it, there’s Eleanor on “Nevers” singing whimsical notions like “I put back on my overshoes/and got in my Renault”. It’s delightful. A European adventure down a cobblestoned back alley of weird heading toward what the song calls a “city of Something”.
I was back in, willing to put up with occasional alarms for more of the fanciful side of the Fiery Furnaces experience. This is thoughtfully carefree music, that dares you to not like it, but unlike extreme industrial death metal or anxiety jazz, it’s a dare I am willing to accept.
Best tracks: Teach Me Sweetheart, Oh Sweet Woods, Benton Harbor Blues, Nevers