Customer Reviews

I'm Going Away [Vinyl]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've always believed the Fiery Furnaces to be grossly undervalued for all the reasons that I've always enjoyed them. This album doesn't feature the same unpredictability and wacky tangents as their previous albums, opting for a more organic, straightforward "rock" sound, but I found it just as interesting and enjoyable and still very "Fiery Furnaces". I appreciate they are still trying new things and surprising their audience. I think the quality of this album isn't lacking though I can see why some fans may be disappointed just because it is so different. I still loved it and would highly recommend it.

If the term "classic album" still has meaning (or supposing it ever did), 'I'm going away' is one of them. You'll read reviews declaring, this is weird, that's weird, not as eclectic, strange, blah, blah, blah and so on. This album contains - to milk that term again, classic pop writing. Only, the Friedbergers avoid cliche, adding interest and surprise in just about every song, something they manage while heightening the melodic interest. That's right, unlike some earlier recordings of theirs, melody is paramount and after only a few spins (that's old classic album era talk) the songs become as hum-able and addictive as the last great pop tune you caught yourself bopping along with. In the sense that some might consider say, Supertramp's 'Crisis, what Crisis?' to be a classic album or Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours', so it with this also. What the Friedbergers have done emphatically on this record is to reconstruct the pop song and make it sound fresh again. Many have tried and failed, the Fiery Furnaces have completely managed it. Honestly, music lovers should rejoice. Creative and modern, yet old as the Cutty Sark, this has to have been one of the albums of the year. Though clearly derivative (do we say, post modern?) there's no smug hipster-domic airs nor ironic deference to mainstream pop. 'I'm going away' is all of this, that and more, but fully realised and so much the better for it.

As a long time fan, I was very excited when this record came out. Obviously way ahead of their time, I see FFs as leading innovators in modern pop rock. This record seems a little more "modern rock" and a little less "pop" to me though. I miss some of the playful catchy tones on this record which were abundant lyrically and melodically in previous albums. I'll still buy every album they make until I'm dead.

I've been a big fan of the Fiery Furnaces since their (mistitled) 2005 "EP" album and have been following the brother-sister act of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger ever since, and it's been a dizzying up-and-down ride ever since, with lots of releases, some of them good, some of them not so good. I was not enthralled by their 2007 "Widow City" studio album, but loved their 2008 "Remember" sprawling live collection. Now comes the new album.

"I'm Going" (12 tracks; 47 min.) kicks off with the weirdish sounding title track, followed by an even stranger "Drive To Dallas" (with an ever-faster tempo towards the end), but pretty soon into album settles in and, get this, the band sounds as straight-forward indie-rock as they've ever been. "The End Is Near" is a pensive song, "Cut the Cake" strolls along merrily, "Even In the Rain" (one of my favorite tracks on here) is a pop-sounding track (complete with hand-clapping). Piano is noticeably present in many of the songs, such as "Staring At the Steeple", which kicks off the second half of the album, and "Lost At Sea". The 6+ min. closer "Take Me Around Again" sums up the album perfectly. In all, quite a departure from previous outings (surprise!), but with plenty of quirky moments to remind you that this is the Fiery Furnaces. One last point: the CD inner sleeve contains the lyrics to the songs, but alas, they are printed so small, they are nigh-impossible to read.

I saw the Fiery Furnaces again in concert just this August here in Cincinnati, and they brought many of the songs from this album, sounding much harder/rockier than what you hear on the album. Great, great set. THey never disappoint live. Finally, if you wonder where you can hear this band, check out WOXY (BAM! The Future of Rock and Roll), the internet-only station that brings the best indie-rock in the country, bar none.

This is by far the most mainstream-sounding Furnaces album to date, but that's not as bad as it sounds. Most of the songs have very conventional structure and melodies--quite a radical departure for this band--but I find them beautiful and they still sound like no one else. Think John Cale, whose most conventional compositions still sound totally unique and surprising (not that FF sound like Cale of course). I can imagine someone fearing that they've sold out or run out of steam, but I don't think so. Trying to write Blueberry Boat over and over would be the act of a band with no new ideas and would surely be tedious, but Matt and Eleanor are still paving new ground, and I think the results are beautiful. Their last album, Widow City, seemed a bit meandering and usually tires me out by the end. I don't get bored with this one, and in fact it ends on a total high (Take Me Round Again). I'll have to see how the album will hold up over the long term, but I suspect that I will still play it a year from now. When I play this, I hear something totally unique and surprising (to borrow my own words), just as I've come to expect from the Fiery Furnaces.

Let me preface this review by saying that the Fiery Furnaces are my favorite band. I love all seven of their previous albums. I've recommended them for years to bemused friends and bought their CDs as gifts for others. I had the privilege of seeing them in concert once. It is with great sadness, then, that I say that the new one is a stone-cold bore. I miss the synths and mellotron, the radical tempo shifts, the playful melodies, the whimsy... I also miss the melancholy. The Fiery Furnaces have always possessed great humor, but with a sad undercurrent: "Benton Harbor Blues," "Restorative Beer," "Police Sweater Blood Vow," "Chief Inspector Blancheflower," "1917," "Slavin' Away"... For me, nothing here is as emotionally resonant. I don't feel it. There aren't many interesting melodies (whereas on previous albums there were, like, three per song). Most of the time, Eleanor's vocal melody simply matches the melody line that Matt is playing on piano. There's a lot more repeating of lines and phrases here--to the point of annoyance. I didn't like, "She's gonna get me folked up, fairly beat," the first time I heard it, much less the 50th. This sounds like a band that is out of ideas. (I'm still in love with Matt's guitar playing, though!)

Whatever... They've made seven breathtakingly good albums in a row. Not many bands have matched that in rock history. They're entitled to a clunker. But it does hurt a little.

this band has more creativity than glenn beck has stupid things to say. they are on the verge of genius every time.