Fiery Furnaces, Music Mill 2.27.06

Last year, the Fiery Furnaces covered "Norwegian Wood" (mp3) for the Rubber Soul tribute compilation, and were summarily lambasted across the music-crit sphere, both pro and amateur, online and off. How, in the name of everything holy, they wrote, could a band with only a few years of existence under their collective belt have the chutzpah to radically re-interpret a canonical Lennon tune about cheating on his wife? Personally, I loved the cover, and the "Like a Rolling Stone" reworking they gave it. And it's pertinent to bring up Dylan, because he's an important touchstone when looking at how the duo approaches both their recording philosophy (just consider for a moment how much Blueberry Boat owes to Blonde on Blonde), and more importantly, their back catalog in a live setting.

Personally, I like artists that take liberties with their recorded music in a live setting. And as much as Dylan, especially in his old age, refuses to play songs the way they were originally recorded, the Fiery Furnaces seem to do nothing in between recording sessions but figure out new ways to transform their songs live. When I first saw them in 2004, I was flattened by the fact that they molded their songs into a non-stop suite/medley thing that spanned roughly an hour and a a half and left even the most hardened hipsters in the crowd agape. Not content with simply re-creating the studio versions live, they essentially rewrote them and presented them in a new and brilliant form.

Last night, they played at the Music Mill, which is one of the more externally frown-y venues in the greater Indy metro area (it's a big, modern, square building in the parking lot of a strip mall behind a Pizzeria Uno), but which provides a nice big setting for a show inside. Unfortunately, it was filled to only about 1/10 of its capacity. The crowd that did make it out was largely enthusiastic, but those that weren't looked as if they'd accidentally stumbled into the wrong show. A large reason for that reaction probably came from the fact that, yet again, the Furnaces have completely changed their live set. The last time I saw them, although the songs were seamlessly woven together, they were largely true to the recorded versions. That was definitely not the case last night. First, Matt Friedberger (sorry, he does look like the love-child of Jared Leto and Conor Oberst), previously hidden behind a synth on stage right, was up front, doing his imitation of either Tony Iommi or Ron Asheton, depending on the moment. There were absolutely no synths to be seen, and the show was bare-bones, full-throttle rock---refiguring (thankfully) Rehearsing My Choir's "Guns Under the Counter" and "The Garfield El" into pounding multi-part prog epics, and three of the best tracks from last year's EP, "Evergreen", "Here Comes the Summer" and "Single Again" into dense and sometimes grating Fun House art-punk (although "Summer", Pete noted, actually lapsed into the "My Sharona" bassline for the last third of the song). New tracks "Police Sweater Blood Vow" and "I'm Waiting to Know You" (mp3) sounded fantastic given the same treatment. These were all, it must be noted, completely new songs, and it's hard to tell if I'd even like them if these were the versions I was hearing for the first time.

Easily the most entertaining part of the show was watching the interplay between Matt and Eleanor---Matt comes off as the brooding, insufferably perfectionistic savant and Eleanor the talented but flighty kid sister. It was fun watching Matt's expression change---he'd scowl at her, then break into a big smile---like he's watching her perform at an elementary-school pageant. This constant exchange was largely indicative of the tenor of the show---a general lack of regard for the crowd, coming from the fact that the band is probably preoccupied with remembering which version of the song they're playing, and how best to bridge between movements.

I'd put money on the fact that most of the crowd walked away from the show a bit confused, if not disappointed---and that's completely understandable. Most, I would assume, expect to hear reasonable facsimiles of the recorded music when seeing an artist or band in a live setting---and would get whatever pleasure they get from the act of seeing while listening. That's the standard. But the Fiery Furnaces, perhaps the most consistently challenging and at times frustrating rock band currently making music, seem to be following a completely different set of rules. And the fact that they don't even seem to know what those rules are is what makes them so compelling.

Dodge offers his two cents, and more pictures, here.
Bitter Tea will be released this spring on Fat Possum Records, but they're selling it at the shows. It's really good.