Possibly music’s most intriguing sibling collaboration, The Fiery Furnaces’ Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger continue their astonishing journey through the world of twisted pop with their sixth full-length release. The album’s opening opus ‘The Philadelphia Grand Jury’ acts like a mission statement, showcasing the fundamental elements of diversity and experimentation that have increasingly become the duo’s trademark. A carefully constructed mash-up, the song (and album) is a cut and paste musical collage with snippets of lyrics strewn over a variety of musical styles, from 70s pop to garage rock.
The expected is constantly twisted on ‘Widow City’ – when you think a song might be following a traditional structure, rhythm, melody even, either Matthew’s instrumentation or Eleanor’s intonation take it somewhere entirely different. This is more successful in some places than others, treading a fine line between the emotive and the unnecessary. Having succeeded with seven minutes of rhythmic variations on the first track, for example, a similar barrage on ‘Clear Signal From Cairo’ is just too much, and the whole album provides a lot to take. Once through the initial jolt of this constant assault, though, much of it is quite brilliant and staring you in the face are more catchy pop melodies than you might think.
If you like your ‘pop’ music challenging then ‘Widow City’ is definitely for you. The songs held within possess a great deal of depth, texture and interest. If, however, you prefer something a little more traditional and appreciate consistent song structure, you might want to give this one a miss.
First published in Notion magazine.
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