Review

Upon first encounter ‘Widow City’ seems rather daunting, a labyrinthine maze of sound whose myriad twists and turns threaten to befuddle the listener. But clutch tightly to the melodic thread and The Fiery Furnaces will see you through. There is an excellent strangeness to almost everything that the Friedberger brother-sister duo does and this record is no exception. Their magical opus bursts into being with the vivid splash of ‘The Philadelphia Grand Jury’, and though the listener must remain dedicated in order to fully disentangle the tunes from the exotic jamboree, the rewards are most gratifying. Utilising a bewildering array of instruments, the Furnaces forge the luxuriant sound stages on which their mystical tales are acted out. There are moments of outright contrariness, but tracks such as ‘Duplexes Of The Dead’ and ‘Restorative Beer’ are among the finest, most whacked-out pop moments of the year.

Words_Francis Jones

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FOR FANS OF: Flaming Lips, Patrick Wolf, Joanna Newsom
DOWNLOAD: ‘The Philadelphia Grand Jury’, ‘Automatic Husband’, ‘Restorative Beer’

Posted on: 27th January 2010

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