The Fiery Furnaces

The Friedberger siblings make the most original prog-blues-rock this side of Captain Beefheart. Widow City may not be as surprising as an album entirely featuring their grandmother singing (like Rehearsing My Choir), but it brims with weird, meandering melodies and accomplished musicality. Shredding guitar, backward loops, Moog synth and fractured beats are strewn piecemeal, while Eleanor's anecdotal poetry deftly weaves in between. "Duplexes of the Dead," "Japanese Slippers" and "Wicker Whatnots" are as noodley and strange as you can get while still being catchy.

If you’ve ever heard an eccentric old person talk (and talk) about her life, you’ll
understand the magic -- and challenge -- of the Fiery Furnaces’ sixth record. On their
experimental indie-pop opuses, the Brooklyn brother-sister duo sings quirky stories about
Egyptian scholars and spiritual gurus, but the long-winded yarn-spinning only makes sense
half of the time. Songwriter Matthew Friedberger claims Widow City was inspire... More >