| Music |
|
“Playing music is living properly,” says Matthew Friedberger, who along with his younger sister Eleanor forms the duo, The Fiery Furnaces. “If you’re thinking of things to do, playing music is something you would do for fun at the end of the day anyway. It’s just living, you know, living in a fun way. If it’s just you sitting at a piano and trying to make up some silly songs in between playing catch or if you’re sitting around a campfire on vacation, as long as it’s not hokey, it’s good.” The Fiery Furnaces issued their second album for Rough Trade, Blueberry Boat, just nine months after their critically appreciated debut Gallowsbird’s Bark. Whereas Gallowsbird’s Bark tripped into a whimsical place of folk, blues and indie stylings, on the second album Matthew and Eleanor tapped into childhood influences like church music and musical theater to create another stunningly eccentric songbook of theatrical art rock. In terms of press attention, the due keeps getting hotter. “Recording
this album was very different because we made the first album completely
on our own money,” explains Friedberger. “But this time
we had the record company’s money and had weeks to do it.
Hopefully and comparatively it sounds more focused than Gallowsbird’s
Bark.” “We fought just because of proximity and because it was easier to swear or something like that when things didn’t go easily,” Friedberger says. “I like to do a million takes and I like having other people to do it too. Luckily Eleanor didn’t really disagree with any of the stupid things I was doing on the record. Honestly, it’s easier to fight with your sibling because you don’t necessarily need to make up. You just forget you had the fight. I don’t think Eleanor likes it if I call her an idiot, but she also thinks I am an idiot, so it works.” Before forming a band, The Fiery Furnaces didn’t share a fondness for one another. The teenage years were a bit thorny until they both discovered their penchant for bands such as The Jesus Lizard, The Flaming Lips and Guided By Voices. “When I was about 19 or 20, I started playing in rock bands again,” says Friedberger. “Right around then, Eleanor expressed to me that she too wanted to play guitar, so by the time she went to school, she could play. This is how we got to be friends again. We’d talk about bands that were from the Midwest, see shows, talk about records we bought, things like that.” It’s been four years since The Fiery Furnaces put aside their childish animosity to create some of the most intriguing and unconventionally beautiful music of the new millennium. Once they wrap up a North American tour for Blueberry Boat the twosome has plans to head into the studio to record again. Their third album, reportedly a Dylan-esque work with a backing band from the 1950s, will feature vocals by their 80-year-old grandmother. “I have a lot of songs from four years ago, so we have material,” Friedberger says. “I write songs really fast and Eleanor writes songs. Eleanor’s going to be speaking Chinese by singing, or basically getting a handle on tonal aspects of pronouncing Chinese for some short, shiny syncopated numbers. We’re very excited.” A2P The
Fiery Furnaces perform at the Blind Pig on Tuesday, September 17
with special guests White Magic. Doors open at 8 p.m.. Cover is
$10. 18+ |
|
 |
INTERVIEWS COLUMNS PLUS: |
| MUSIC |
| MOVIES BOOKS |