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kevinburns writes:

5of 5 Stars

Okay, you guys at Rolling Stone either don't appreciate indulgent art, or you're not smoking as much pot as it seems you are. To give "Blueberry Boat" anything less than 4 stars is a travesty. I used to crack Fiery Furnace jokes all the time (when your friends are indie kids such as yourself, it's easy), about how spaced out, random and so-called "innovative" they were. When I was making fun of them however, it was mostly due to small-minded mainstream thinking. When listening to this album with a mainstream view of music, it's not only scary, but scattered, unfinnished, twitchy, and extremely eccentric. However, take some time to actually listen to the whole album as an album. What we then have on our hands is one of the absolute best releases of the 00's, spanning glitchy loops and stories about lockets, to ever-changing guitar freakouts and lyrics about losing your dog. My friend Christian's description of this album was "It's everything Phil Spector forgot to do." The Friedberger siblings are definitely on to something. Take "Straight Street" or "Chris Michaels" to look for straightforward fun and the most "rock" songs on the disc. Take "Blueberry Boat" as the best story, and "I Lost My Dog" for the most place references on the album ("I went to..."), which the Furnaces are known for. Stir in all the randomness, the guitar blurbs, the annunciation in Eleanor's vocals, and the overall subject matter of a record that's so fucking dope, and you have one of the best releases, not only in the indie circuit, but of the past 7 years. Maybe you guys will just never get this album for whatever reason, and that's cool. But seriously, smoke a joint, throw this on in the headphones, and you'll be closer.

Mar 17, 2007 08:47:08