The Friedbergers are back, and with a sunnier, lighter feeling album than you might be used to from them as well. Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger are, of course, The Fiery Furnaces, a band whose back catalogue includes some of the most talked about indie releases of the past decade, including Blueberry Boat, Bitter Tea, an album recorded with their Grandmother (Rehearsing My Choir), and who could forget the epic, but probably way too long live album from last year, Remember.

The bottom line is that The Fiery Furnaces are pretty good at keeping their fans on their toes. You really never know what they might do next. While there’s nothing predictable about the band, their upcoming album (their third release on Chicago-based label Thrill Jockey Records) sees the band going back to basics in some ways, and it pulls their fans back that may have been ostricized during some of their more polarizing moments.

I’m Going Away carries a lighter air about it in general, with shorter poppier numbers led by the always steady piano work from Matthew. The sunnier feel is intentional too, as Matthew has said that the album means to take on more of a sitcom approach, like “Taxi”, as opposed to a full length feature film, like “Titanic.”

And if the parallel holds, I’d take it a step further and say that the key-driven tunes, combined with Eleanor’s infectious croon make for a perfect summer soundtrack in the city, with songs like “The End Is Near”, “Charmaine Champaign” and “I’m Going Away” coming in fast and short with just at or under three minutes of summer heat. It’s another change of pace for the band, who really bowled us over with their last studio album, Widow City, which seemed to really show off the band’s muscles with big swooping rock tunes that moved to the steady bass guitar heartbeat provided by Furnaces collaborator and Sebadoh member Jason Loewenstein (who also happens to have recorded and mixed I’m Going Away.)

And this is not to say that I’m Going Away does not “rock”, because at the core of the band, they play rock ‘n’ roll. But I think this is as poppy and possibly accessible you might find the Friedberger siblings, brandishing their self-described “Democ-Rock” for both longtime fans and maybe for those looking for a good summer soundtrack or some relief from reality, because after all, times are tough.

I’m Going Away is out July 21 from Thrill Jockey Records.

The Fiery Furnaces – The End Is Near

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 9:09 am and is filed under MP3's, This Just In. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.