Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good good good, good good double good, February 17, 2004
The Fiery Furnaces. I love the band name, I love the debut album. At the risk of sounding like an imbecile I am going to try and do the impossible and describe how this album sounds. If Tom Waits had a sister that he played music with they probabaly would have recorded an album that sounds like "Gallowsbird's Bark". People love to categorize things, well, categorize this!!There was this word that about thirteen years ago that was incorrectly used to describe just about every freaking band under the sun. Your remember the word? It was alternative.(The grammys still use this word which is further proof that they exist somewhere around the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.) Anyway, if you want to use that word, then use it here. "Gallowsbird.." is a cacophony of melodies, rhythms, and odd noises that somehow manages to be quite catchy at times, and brilliant at others. Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger make up the Furnaces. They are a brother/sister duo, and you have to believe that therein lies the secret to there ridiculously unique sound. It's probably been a product of years of experimentation. They use a number of combinations of instruments and influences to create some very unique and challenging music. I've listened to the album four times, and it gets better eevry time I hear it. The album hits it's stride on the terrific "Up in the North", which is catchier than bird flu. The track features some great piano, and is carried by Eleanor's distinctive vocals. It is impossible to dislike this song. The funky "Asthma Attack" is similarly infectious. The guitar and bass are stellar on "Asthma", which they are throughout the album. "Don't Dance her Down" is more of a traditional rock song (at least for these two it is) but just as good. "Two Fat Feet" has some fine wah-wah blues guitar playing and yet another sing along chorus. The Furnaces may be tricky, but they know what a hook is. The super cool, mid-tempo "Bow-wow" follows that same formula, and is one of the best songs on the album. It is no surprise that "Gallowsbird's Bark" was released on the Rough Trade label which has been a consistantly excellent indie for, oh, twenty years now(They were responsible for a little band called The Smiths, who some people were quite fond of). I highly recommend this album to people who aren't afraid of something new. Listen to it a few times before you decide, and I think you'll agree with me.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Bark" better than their bite, May 1, 2005
The Fiery Furnaces seem to be the new king (and queen) of enigmatic, larger-than-life indie rock. While their second album was the one that got things moving, their debut "Gallowsbird's Bark" gained them a reputation for rich music and strange, dreamy writing.
Siblings Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger open things with the jangly, cascading pop of "South Is Only A Home" -- it's a fun little tune, but a bit chaotic-sounding. It's only in the third song, "Leaky Tunnel," that the album kicks into high gear, with banjo and electric guitar, overlaid with sparkling piano and rapid-fire percussion. Then you know that these two are something special.
Dipping into alt-country in places, the Furnaces mostly focus on trippy rock songs and catchy oddball pop songs. There's an out-and-out rocker in "Asthma Attack," a sprawling experimental stretch in "Crystal Clear," and they even try a bluesy acoustic song in "Bright Blue Tie," which only has a few flickery synth bits in the background.
Sparkly, tinkly piano, folky, dreamy, trippy, rock'n'roll and psychedelic music-hall. Those are only a few of the things that come to mind when listening to "Gallowsbird's Park." There's something oddly childlike and dreamy about this music, despite songs about how "if men and wine don't kill me." Perhaps it's the fact that their music has so many facets.
The sole problem seems to be, oddly enough, restraint. The Fiery Furnaces are not now known for their musical restraint, but in this album they seem to be damming up their larger-than-life talents. But even dammed-up, their catchy, complex blend of guitar rock, banjo, and rippling piano is intoxicating, as is the oddball additions. Who knew that a band with garage rock roots could have xylophone and the occasional electronica flicker?
Eleanor Friedberger sounds like she's having a great time here; you can imagine this husky-voiced singer singing a shopping list and sounding great. As it is, she brings a devil-may-care edge to lyrics about paying fines, celebrating the millennium, and oddball rhymes ("Down in the dumps/Me and the seagulls we were looking for lumps").
The Fiery Furnaces are gaining recognition for some of the most original indierock in years. And their enchanting debut is a rollicking, frolicking romp that never gets dull.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
the most interesting debut of the year, January 14, 2004
By A Customer
this is as quirky, fun, musical, & adventurous as anything i've heard this year...with bits of pretty much every musical style thrown in, from punk to ragtime to blues. lyrical and intense, you'll find yourself humming the tunes long after, especially my favorites "two fat feet" "up in the north" "inca rag/name game" and "tropical ice-land"a previous reviewer singled out the female vocalist as untalented, which i'll argue is unfair and unwarranted. her phrasing isn't non-existent, it's unique: here as staccato, there a soft croon, and yes, sometimes a howl or a yelp as punctuation. the comparison of amy lee from evanescence says it all: if you like that bombast and overdone production, no, this isn't an album for you. If you are into off-beat hooks, poetic turns of phrase, or musical daring, well, here it is.
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