the Fiery Furnaces - "I'm Going Away"

This morning, I bought the new Fiery Furnaces record, "I'm Going Away", and I listened to it this evening.

It becomes evident from the first few tracks that "I'm Going Away" is not your average Fiery Furnaces LP. This album is softer, more piano-driven. Electric guitars are used merely to create an accent, not to shred your brains out. Also, the songs are slightly more constructed and easier to follow, making it a more listenable record, but the Furnaces still keep their quirk. On their first single, "The End is Near", Matthew and Elanor Friedberger show off their mellow vocals with a piano melody section and a solid bass line. After this comes what is probably one of my favorite tracks on the record...a lively, jazzy rock song entitled "Charmaine Champagne" That mixes the piano with a distorted guitar riff in a near perfect way. Before "The End is Near" is another solid track, "Drive to Dallas". Heartfelt but still very FF, it's a standout for me. My other favorite tracks are the surprisingly catchy, "Even in the Rain" and "Lost at Sea". There's also a faster, more vocally exploratory reprise of "Charmaine Champagne" entitled "Cups and Punches". I was almost disappointed when I heard that FF were going in a different direction with this record, because I'm a pretty big fan of "Widow City" and "Bitter Tea", but "I'm Going Away" has, overall, more outstanding tracks than not. It's a great album, while it's also the Fiery Furnaces that you can take home to your mother. An amazing effort, and an LP that I would recommend to anybody.

Key Tracks: "Drive to Dallas", "Charmaine Champagne", "Even in the Rain", "Roy Bouvier", "Lost at Sea", "Take Me 'Round Again"