The Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

New York brother-sister act tosses off raggedy-ass indie-rock collages and other random blurts to its credit and to its detriment, the Fiery Furnaces' second album may prove to be one of the more polarizing records of the year -- a stitched-together, underedited collage of half-finished tunes, random guitar blurts and keyboard flotsam that will be loved by its admirers and royally annoy everyone else. Between Eleanor Friedberger's high-strung, impressionistic singing and brother Matthew's unfocused instrumental work, it sounds like the Furnaces were out to make a concept album about goofy charm. The relatively straight "Straight Street" evokes speed-addled Patti Smith, but it comes on the heels of the ten-minute-plus "Quay Cur," which careens from gurgling electronica to cracked folky ballad while Eleanor tries to rewrite Finnegans Wake. The band is clearly out to shock, even calling the album "a throwaway," but with gas prices being what they are, why bother?