So it wasn’t revelatory or awe-inspiring. It was curious, just curious. The video above comes from Fiery Furnaces most recent tour. Their latest incarnation? An early nineties, post-hardcore indie rock act, with caveats galore. They’re sharper and more musically adept than the stylefuck their hammering on, and maybe too glam for the pastiche — Eleanor’s white hot outfit looks more and more like Freddie Mercury’s — but Ex-Sebadoh bassist Jason Loewenstein’s involvement has come full circle.
Such energetic music, at least in this style, seems anachronistic somehow, reeking of the reunion tours still to come [Pavement’s is allegedly riding on the horizon and, if you can believe it, Wowee Zowee Luxe & Reduxe is due sometime this fall]. And while the performance was neither gut-wrenchingly earnest nor tainted with the tongue-in-cheek irony that came to define “indie”, the stripped down guitar-oriented set, didn’t suit them well. And yet the curiosity remained because what makes The Fiery Furnaces so special is their Dylanesque versatility, rearranging songs so dramatically as to make them practically unrecognizeable while maintaining all the quirky, bookish qualities that have made them a cult favorite.
So while it was more than a little disappointing to hear songs like “Teach Me Sweetheart” de-sexed, there’s always the next incarnation to look forward to. And if the Gilberto Gil album that played on the P.A. is any indication, a return to florid arrangements — and perhaps total tropicalia — seems likely. Yet the question remains: where me Fiery Furnaces dub?
[See also: Fiery Furnaces’ Media Repository]