Maybe it’s the highly particular dynamic borne of the bro-sis relationship and its associated cryptic personal code. Or perhaps it’s just the fact that they’re two distinct personalities who both gel better than a KY production line and get on each other’s tits something chronic that makes The Fiery Furnaces such a freakily fertile, creative proposition.
Siblings Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger claim that they fight like cat and dog, but also readily admit that it’s he who baits and badgers her (some things never change). They made their debut in 2003 with "Gallowsbird’s Bark", a melodically perverse but playful exercise in the kind of skronky art-pop that made Pavement’s name. With their follow-up, however, the duo have really set sail from the shores of structural coherence, possibly to never be seen again.
This is a good thing. Dazzling as their debut was in its willingness to chuck one (great) idea after another until whatever stuck, stuck it was exhausting, the drive for constant change making it sound almost demented. Although "Blueberry Boat" sees the pair exploring even more supernaturally wild waters – prog rock, carny music, Weimar cabaret, sea shanties, wonky Wurlitzer whirls, alterno pop and Sixties soul, for starters – they explore them in far more satisfying depth. The latest odyssey might stretch out to over 75 minutes, but it’s both an oddly comforting and exhilarating trip.
Picking highlights is nigh impossible, but there’s special pleasure in the title track, which seems to be about a cargo ship that sinks off the coast of China (“it’s sad and cold at the bottom of the sea, but at least I’ve got my blueberries on me,” chirrups Eleanor, while a church organ runs through its scales), in the extravagantly theatrical Bowie/Neil Young collision which is "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" and in "Spaniolated", a punning fantasia which suggests Genesis’s "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" transferred to a Weimar-era fairground.
All of which might sound like a particularly try-hard flight of fancy from two musicians keen to flash their intelligence and wit at the expense of engaging the listener. Not a bit of it. For all its erratic tacking, "Blueberry Boat" steers a steady course straight to the heart.
