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The Fiery Furnaces

Widow City

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by Ruben_James on 08/06/2007

It wouldn’t be a stretch to call the Fiery Furnaces the most original band on the face of the planet. To many listeners that’s a deserved honor bestowed upon the siblings Friedberger, while others shirk at the thought of over-indulgence and contrarian left turns. Matthew Friedberger often flies too close to the sun. His studio trickery has a tendency to derail an otherwise perfectly enjoyable song (i.e. the album versions of “Nevers” and “Benton Harbor Blues” on Bitter Tea). And then there’s Rehearsing My Choir—everyone’s favorite Fiery Furnaces punching bag and best argument against tapping your grandmother for guest vocals on your next record. But for every misstep the Friedberger’s have made, they’ve made two in the right direction.

Outside its to-be-expected musical spasms, the seven-minute “The Philadelphia Grand Jury” opens Widow City like a twisted Technicolor musical starring a jailbird Eleanor Friedberger signing her last words before the “Philadelphia Grand Jury strings me up.” It immediately feels like the logical next step in the evolution of the Fiery Furnaces—still playful, but often harder. Building on the cool of Eleanor’s wordy delivery and Matthew’s penchant for seeking out new sounds in the studio, the duo expand their Bitter Tea-era arsenal by replacing buzzing synthesizers with vintage (Mellotron-esque) keyboards and heavier breaks—sometimes combining the two in a nod to Led Zeppelin as is the case on “Duplexes of the Dead” and the suite that follows it.

Following the record’s most schizophrenic track, “Clear Signal From Cairo,” “My Egyptian Grammar” fills in as the 80’s prom night bench clearer that “Waiting To Know You” was on Bitter Tea. This sense of being as equally tied to the past as to the future is what has always been so great about the Fiery Furnaces. They give you just enough of what want and a little of what you’re not ready for. As previously mentioned, sometimes it works better than others. Shortly after the midpoint of the record things start to drag a bit before picking up again with “Cabaret of the Seven Devils” and “Pricked in the Heart.” At just under an hour long, Widow City may have benefited from a 15-minute trim. But if that were the case, I’d probably just be scouring the internets for the outtakes.

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Album Details

Year: 2007
Label: Thrill Jockey
Producer:
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Tracklist

1	The Philadelphia Grand Jury
2	Duplexes Of The Dead
3	Automatic Husband
4	Ex-Guru
5	Clear Signal From Cairo
6	My Egyptian Grammar
7	The Old Hag Is Sleeping
8	Japanese Slippers
9	Navy Nurse
10	Uncle Charlie
11	Right by Conquest
12	Restorative Beer
13	Wicker Whatnots
14	Cabaret of the Seven Devils
15	Pricked in the Heart
16	Widow City

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