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Fiery Furnaces nearly go down in flames
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Signs something was wrong with the Fiery Furnaces during their show Wednesday night at the Echo Lounge:
Singer Eleanor Friedberger and her multi-instrumentalist brother, Matthew, barely acknowledged each-other. The exceptions came when Eleanor less-than-convincingly told the audience how much she loved Matthew, and when she glared at him during the encore for playing a song she said she didn’t recognize.
The band didn’t start until 12:30 Thursday morning, blaming their tardiness on a broken string.
The Furnaces played at warp-speed. As Eleanor spat out lyrics while staring through her Joey Ramone haircut at the floor, Matthew and two sidemen seemed competitors in a musical race. The drumbeats took on speed-metal cadences. The guitars and keyboards rushed. The bass hung on for dear life. The show whizzed by in less than an hour.
Despite all of this, the music was pretty interesting, drawing from the Furnaces excellently trippy 2004 record “Blueberry Boat,â€? a psychedelic, herky-jerky experiment gone right. Live, the songs were faster and more unhinged, but the band’s manic creativity was very much on display.
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