New Fiery Furnaces

Fiery Furnaces' I'm Going Away

Amazon: it releases July 21.

The Fiery Furnaces are an experimental indie band headquartered in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, known among a cult following for their unpredictability and genre-hopping, and consisting at core of the brother and sister Friedberger. Most of the songwriting (often a found-language process) is done by Matthew, but Eleanor's strength of delivery and presence really make the music addictive. I got to hear a preview of I'm Going Away earlier in the month at their live show. It's much more straightforward blues-pop than their previous frenetic lyrical collages, but still has the pastiche spirit. This may be the Fiery Furnaces album for non-fans, in fact, which means that fans may be a bit disappointed that they're maturing. The songs seem closer to their New York abode than albums like Widow City (2007) or grandma-duet Rehearsing My Choir dedicated to their Illinois upbringing. They lament a string of exes (Drive to Dallas, Even in the Rain, Ray Bouvier, Lost At Sea, Keep Me In The Dark) or vaguely indicated petty triumphs and travails (The End Is Near, Cut the Cake, Staring At The Steeple), and only with "Cups and Punches" do they approach their trademark concealed absurdity. Their confidence approaches a retro attempt, which I find similar to Dylan's recent output, to refine the universality of pop cliché beyond irony into something raw, classic, comfortable, and eminently quotable.

Tracklist:
1. I'm Going Away +
2. Drive To Dallas *
3. The End Is Near
4. Charmaine Champagne +
5. Cut The Cake
6. Even In The Rain +
7. Staring At The Steeple *
8. Ray Bouvier *
9. Keep Me In The Dark *
10. Lost At Sea *
11. Cups and Punches +
12. Take Me Round Again

+ Good
* Personal favorite