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Ever since the Fiery Furnaces’ modestly auspicious 2003 debut, Gallowsbird’s Bark, it’s been one act of misdirection after the next. The inscrutable art-rock of 2004’s Blueberry Boat was followed by a teasingly poppy EP (2005’s EP). A collaboration between principals Matt and Eleanor Friedberger and their grandmother (2005’s Rehearsing My Choir) was followed by the weirdly catchy synth-rock of 2006’s Bitter Tea. And 2006 also saw the release of tandem Matt Friedberger solo albums, and lest one imagine the group’s ADD streak has magically abated, the fast-working siblings are back with Widow City, their first album for Thrill Jockey.
Where does Widow City find the Furnaces now? Stuck somewhere in the 1970s, where all the divergent aspects of their music—prog, art-rock, pop, Broadway and all parts in between—coalesce into a surprisingly cohesive sound. Still, the Furnaces keeping it together is a far cry from the group making it easy for listeners. The opening seven-plus minutes of “The Philadelphia Grand Jury” are still all over the place, and deceptively straightforward numbers like “Duplexes of the Dead,” “My Egyptian Grammar” and “Navy Nurse” share space with free-jazz Zappa-style fusion freakouts like “Uncle Charlie” and the manic “Wicker Whatnots.”
Like even the best of the Furnaces, it’s all a bit too much, and like the worst of the Furnaces, it’s…well, all a bit too much. But that’s the danger of sounding like no other band on the planet: For better or for worse, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself when your wacky product is admired more than it’s beloved.
The Fiery Furnaces play Logan Square Auditorium Wednesday 31.
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