The first song on Widow City, "Philadelphia Grand Jury" -- all seven minutes of it -- defines everything fascinating, and occasionally frustrating, about the Fiery Furnaces' music. Eleanor Friedberger sings about legal woes, red tape, and conspiracies as the music behind her switches from tinkling piano and harp to anthemic guitars and back again, then drifts off into its own noodly world. Likewise, Widow City is a quintessentially Fiery Furnaces album, recombining the Friedburgers' hyper-literate art rock and experimental almost-pop: "Japanese Slippers" plays a bit like one of Gallowsbird's Bark's saloon ditties filtered through Blueberry Boat's kaleidoscope. However, Widow City's major accomplishment is how it captures the band's live power and sheds some of their mannered studio sound. It rocks hard, and often: in-the-red drums and guitars dominate "Wicker Whatnots," where they collide with violins and lyrics about animal sacrifices and meterological conditions, and the thrashy "Uncle Charlie," which opens with a lengthy -- and crazed -- drum solo, then threatens to collapse for its entire two minutes. There's also a strong classic rock influence on the album; "Duplexes of the Dead"'s melody sounds more than a little like the chorus of the Rolling Stones' "Child of the Moon," and "Navy Nurse"'s funky, behemoth riff could be from Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein."
Since it's a quintessentially Fiery Furnaces album, Widow City has some moments that rank with their very best: "Clear Signal from Cairo" revels in miscommunication with dense, intersecting melodies and lyrics that could be lifted from a stuttering telegram. "Automatic Husband" throws together thunderous rock, sweeping harps, and spoken-word vocals that border on hip-hop to a playfully sinister melody befitting a cartoon villain. It's the most mischievous the Friedburgers have been since Blueberry Boat, the album Widow City resembles most, down to travelogue songs like the polyrhythmic, bottom-heavy "Cabaret of the Seven Devils." The Furnaces' storytelling is also sharper here than it has been in a few albums: "The Old Hag Is Sleeping" tells the tale of an embittered elderly couple from three viewpoints (hers, his, and their grandchild's), with the sound of chattering monkeys in the background adding to the air of whimsical malice. And, of course, Widow City wouldn't be a quintesentially Fiery Furnaces album without a few confounding moments. "Widow City" begins with tumbling synth drums and pianos, segues into drunken vaudeville, then ends abruptly, as though the Friedburgers and crew were forced to hand over their instruments. Though it doesn't quite hold together as well as their best albums, Widow City has more than enough twists and tricks to keep Fiery Furnaces fans happy, and, once again, it sounds like the work of no other band.
This summer's big winner is McCarren Pool. It's a shame that the venue is being filled with water, as it's attracted thousands of people each Sunday. Long lines, blazing sun and overpriced food aside, it's been host to consistently excellent shows. While the bands that have played have been relatively unknown to me, or familiar mostly in name, it's a quintessentially summer setting. This sh...
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Went to see TFF at The Independant in San Francisco(where the Mog 1 yr. anniversary party took place)over a week ago on Friday Oct. 19th. They were fantastic in concert! I was quite impressed at how they recreated their sound live.Arrived late(which is my M.O. if you haven't figured that out by now)so ended up totally missing the opening band Pit Er Pat. Not heard of them prior to this so don't...
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The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City(Thrill Jockey, 2007)8.5 stars out of 10Six albums into their career, they've done it at last. Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger have finally shed the image that has dogged their band for so long, no longer satisfied to be trapped by their past boundaries, sick as they must be from being pigeonholed as merely baroque, abstract blues-indie-prog-psych-folk-pop-art-roc...
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The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City(Thrill Jockey, 2007)8.5 stars out of 10Six albums into their career, they've done it at last. Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger have finally shed the image that has dogged their band for so long, no longer satisfied to be trapped by their past boundaries, sick as they must be from being pigeonholed as merely baroque, abstract blues-indie-prog-psych-folk-pop-art-roc...
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Seems like I'm always behind the times when it comes to videos of artists I like. I was checking out The Fiery Furnaces website and was checking out the video section and discovered they had released a video for their song 'Navy Nurse' some time ago. Last week I discovered I hadn't seen a Goldfrapp video either.It's so difficult to keep up on all the groups' latest. I've signed up for email upd...
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Went to see TFF at The Independant in San Francisco(where the Mog 1 yr. anniversary party took place)over a week ago on Friday Oct. 19th. They were fantastic in concert! I was quite impressed at how they recreated their sound live.Arrived late(which is my M.O. if you haven't figured that out by now)so ended up totally missing the opening band Pit Er Pat. Not heard of them prior to this so don't...
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New York City duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, AKA The Fiery Furnaces have released a new video for their single "Navy Nurse" off of their 6Th album ??Widow City??(Thrill Jockey). Also,Brother and sister duo are currently on tour in Europe. The group will return to North America in mid-December to play select shows though the region.Current Tour listing:11/15 - Paris, France - Nouveau Casin...
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Brother/sister duo The Fiery Furnaces will release their new album Widow City this October. The band will be releasing the follow-up to 2006's Bitter Tea on Chicago imprint Thrill Jockey, also home to Trans Am, Tortoise and David Byrne. This is the Furnaces first release on Thrill Jockey, the closest thing to a hometown label for Matt and Eleanor (the duo grew-up in the south side Chicago subur...
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The Fiery Furnaces have a new video for "Ex-Guru" from their new album Widow City. The video was directed by Angie Waller and you can watch it here:You can also read Spencer Owen's review of the album for MOG:http://mog.com/Spencer_Owen/blog_post/116821
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New York City brother and sister duo, The Fiery Furnaces will announced their summer tour details. The band will be supporting their upcoming release, ??Widow City??, which will be released later this year, according to the band's publicist.Jun 21 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop Jun 22 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle Jun 23 Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig Jun 25 Toronto, ON
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The Fiery Furnaces upped their brand new video today. The song is "Duplexes Of The Dead" from Widow City and the vid was directed by Pete Ohs. This video has a very important lesson for musicans, bands, labels and basically anyone who puts out a video. That lesson is: Splash pages are your friend. I could write a whole press release off the info included on the splash page of this video. ...
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greets moggers,i've got a pre-release of the new fiery furnaces cd and it's serioulsy kick-ass. a giant musical puzzle i've had to listen to 5+ times today to put together. not too many new cd's from new bands are getting to me lately like this. gallowsbird bark was one of my favorite records in the last decade. good to see they still got serious game. just found this awesome fiery furnaces l...
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I don't know a thing about the band besides they record for Thrill Jockey. Can someone hip me to them, because this song is very catchy.
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Here's a track off the upcoming Firey Furnaces album, Widow City, which is out on Thrill Jocky in October.Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger AKA The Fiery Furnaces.
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I wish I had a mellotron. If I had a mellotron, not only would I play it, I'd play it loud, like, overly loud. It would make things different. I'd paint it, and I'd put stickers of people I liked on it. Maybe some flame decals. Make this shit look FAST. You'd be all, "that is the fastest mellotron I've ever seen." And it ain't even MOVING.And in keeping with the "band playing said song i...
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This summer's big winner is McCarren Pool. It's a shame that the venue is being filled with water, as it's attracted thousands of people each Sunday. Long lines, blazing sun and overpriced food aside, it's been host to consistently excellent shows. While the bands that have played have been relatively unknown to me, or familiar mostly in name, it's a quintessentially summer setting. This sh...
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Fiery Furnaces - new jam - My Egyptian Grammar from Widow City
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FF - Restorative BeerFF - Restorative BeerFF - Restorative BeerFF - Restorative BeerFF - Restorative Beer
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 The Philadelphia Grand Jury |
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| 2 Duplexes of the Dead |
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| 3 Automatic Husband |
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| 4 Ex-Guru |
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| 5 Clear Signal from Cairo |
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| 6 My Egyptian Grammar |
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| 7 The Old Hag Is Sleeping |
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| 8 Japanese Slippers |
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| 9 Navy Nurse |
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| 10 Uncle Charlie |
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| 11 Right by Conquest |
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| 12 Restorative Beer |
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| 13 Wicker Whatnots |
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| 14 Cabaret of the Seven Devils |
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| 15 Pricked in the Heart |
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| 16 Widow City |
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Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Widow City")
