By Tyler Fassnacht

The evening started out light and clean and ended pretty gritty. Now I am not insulting any of the bands that played, but it was a noticeable progression as the three bands performed.

The first act was a guy named Dent May, who played ukulele and crooned cute songs. There was also another guy on stage playing tambourine and singing backup, which added a lot to the otherwise empty sound. His songs were catchy and it was fun watching him jump around with his ukulele, but I am sorry, I couldn’t stop thinking of Hawaii during his performance. Besides the tropical thoughts, the songs also didn’t differ all that much, which is why I was a little glad that his set was short and sweet.

The next band was called Cryptacize, who were actually here last month opening for Sufjan Stevens. Their music was arty rock, with a jumble of tempo changes, guitar effects and jazzy chords, all with a female singer who’s voice was poppy, soft and bright. They were quite good in their own right and they also set the mood for the Fiery Furnaces’ set.

It seems as though each Furnaces’ tour, they have a different stage setup as far as instrumentation goes. This time around it was drummer, bass, vocals and guitar, but no keys whatsoever, which seems a bit strange because they were abundant on the new record. Eleanor came out seeming a little shy in front of everyone, but throughout the night she commanded that stage and had the audience anticipating every word she sang. In comparison to the singer for Cryptacize, Eleanor sings in a deep alto register and sits behind a force of a voice and her lyric phrasings are just as complicated as the music arrangements. All the while her brother Matt stood off to the side playing guitar and leading the other musicians through tempos slowing down, speeding up and starting and stopping. He played guitar licks so quick that I’m sure some people missed them.

The set list relied heavily on their new record, I’m Going Away, but there were songs sprinkled in from every album. Highlights for me were “Chris Michaels” from Blueberry Boat, “Evergreen” from EP and “Duplexes of the Dead” from Widow City. Oh and did I mention how almost all the songs were different? Something the Fiery Furnaces are known for, are their reworking of their own songs. Since there were no keyboards and the only guitar effect was distortion, many of the layered, psychedelic songs on their albums were played with a harder rocking vigor, but also with an element of improvisation and free jazz like parts here and there. They added extra measures to choruses and changed up rhythms to songs, which was all a very pleasant treat for the songs off their newest album, which were played with a fresh sound. Their new takes on songs like “The End is Near,” “Drive to Dallas,” and “Staring at the Steeple,” made them almost brand new. However pop oriented and straight forward some of their songs are on albums, when played live they are weirder and much more experimental. Next tour these guys go on, I am definitely going to try and catch them again.

Discuss: What did you think of the show? Were you a fan of Dent May or Cryptacize? Drop a comment with your thoughts/reviews of last night’s show.

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