I Tried Hard To Make The World An Exotic Place

The Fiery Furnaces “Seven Silver Curses” – It seems somewhat inevitable that most people are going to dislike Rehearsing My Choir. For one thing, it is the long promised “grandmother album,” and Olga Sarantos’ voice is not exactly pop-friendly – as observed by Jody Beth Rosen, it’s a bit like Elaine Stritch crossed with a carnival barker. The music is full of abrupt shifts, enough so that the most sprawling songs on Blueberry Boat seem rather uncomplicated in comparison. But as with their previous work, patience and close attention yield enormous dividends, as repeat listening to the album has revealed a surprisingly linear and involving story cycle full of absurd humor, pathos, and adventure. In spite of some rather shallow similarities with the Decemberists, this record makes it very clear why they are in fact the total opposite of that band – rather than tacking stories on to fairly standard folk-pop songforms, the Furnaces always make a point of making the music itself part of the narrative, pushing the story along by establishing scenes, characters, and shifts in time. As a whole, Rehearsing My Choir is an elaborate suite that is certainly intended to be heard as a single unit, with recurring lyrical and instrumental themes and motifs. It’s highly ambitious and initially off-putting in its mutant vaudeville/art-rock/opera/disco/blues/folk nature, but once you become acclimated to its internal logic, it is very entertaining. (Click here to pre-order it from Insound.)

Childballads “The Onion Domes of Tallahassee” – It’s been years since any new material has surfaced featuring the vocals of one Stewart Lupton, the genius singer/lyricist of the late, great Jonathan Fire*Eater. As his former bandmates have gone on to modest success as The Walkmen, fans of the old band were left to wonder what ever became of Lupton, occasionally muttering something about a new project called Childballads. After years of waiting, at least one song has finally leaked, and thankfully the guy hasn’t lost it all in the time since Wolf Songs For Lambs. “The Onion Domes of Tallahassee” is a gentle shuffle falling halfway between Dylan and the Stones, but not so far removed from the best of JFE. Oh, and there’s a stray line sung by a woman that is unexpected and brilliant and compliments Stewart’s voice wonderfully. Hopefully she shows up on some of the other new tracks whenever they come out.