By Tyler Fassnacht

The Fiery Furnaces were formed in 2000 by two siblings. Eleanor sings, Matthew plays music and together, over the course of seven albums, they have written some of the most experimental music in addition to some of the poppiest music I have ever. In preparation for their upcoming shows in Milwaukee on Thursday at Turner Hall and in Madison on Friday at the Majestic, I would like to share some personal highlights from their catalogue.

The Fiery Furnaces garnered attention with their first album, Gallowsbird’s Bark, which was grouped in with the garage rock fad of the early 2000’s. The furnaces kept this album fairly raw and bluesy sounding. A standout track from this record is “Leaky Tunnel,” which blends the signature sound that the Fiery Furnaces would develop in their career with an almost 60’s pyschadelic rock instrumentation. It is also a good example of the astounding way that Eleanor Friedberger can rattle off words by the mouthful.

The band followed the garage sound with an album of ten-minute epics that had gurgling keyboards, erratic/spazzy guitars and lyrics that were really more like rambles and stories. Blueberry Boat has seen the most mixed reviews of any Fiery Furnaces album, with some people calling it unlistenable and others calling it genius. I, personally, am with the second group on this one. To this day I haven’t heard an album like this and the best example of this album’s merit is the opener, “Quay Cur.” Clocking in at 10:25, this song evolves from minimalist electronic, to upbeat rock with galloping guitars, to arpeggiating acoustic and then to a reprise of the original theme. It’s an engaging opener to the magnum opus that is Blueberry Boat.

After the experimental enigma that was Blueberry Boat, the band released a collection of B-sides and singles, called EP, that were much more commercially friendly. On the album there is a reworking of a song that was originally on Gallowsbird’s Bark. “Tropical Iceland” is catchy, concise and sweet like candy. With synths reminiscent of Toni Basil’s “Hey Mickey”, and a simple sing a long chorus, it’s hard not to get this song stuck in your head.

In 2005 Rehearsing My Choir was released. This album is a highlight as a whole for diehard fans of the Fiery Furnaces and fans of experimental music alike. The music is good o’le Fiery Furnaces, except the album is narrated by the sibling’s grandmother. Mostly in the form of spoken word, the album tells the story of Olga Sarantos’ life. The album was not received well, but as a project it is really unique and interesting.

After finding a new home on the label Thrill Jockey, the furnaces released Widow City“>Widow City in 2007. The album is approximately an hour in length, without an obvious coherent theme, which makes it difficult to listen to sometimes as a whole, in one sitting. To me, it seems as though roughly a fourth of the album is filler, but the album really has some great tracks that make up for the average ones. One of the powerhouse songs is “Navy Nurse.” With a kickass riff that starts off the song, it trades off between happy organ verses and quick sputtering choruses. This one was even featured in the average Chuck Palahniuk movie adaptation, Choke.

This brings me to their latest album, I’m Going Away, which they are touring on now. The album as a whole, is the most approachable Fiery Furnaces album to date, but the album still doesn’t disappoint. The songs are short, piano filled pop gems and the coincidentally optimistic sounding “The End is Near” is a good example. This song shows a more mellow side to the Fiery Furnaces that we only get to see sporadically across their catalogue.

In their live shows, the Fiery Furnaces change up songs, some almost to a completely different level, so it is something that will keep you on your toes and keep you entertained.

Buy: Fiery Furnaces
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Myspace: The Fiery Furnaces
MP3: The Fiery Furnaces – The End Is Near