Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 01/04/06
Label: Rough Trade

Were this review written in the style of the album it's covering, it would induce a migraine after a couple of paragraphs. Just as you thought you were latching onto exactly where the ideas it contained were headed, it would suddenly ChA-NGe DI*r*EC*TIo*N AND S+T+yL+E C-OMP-LETeLy, leaving you DI-So*Rie+nTaTED and feeling slightly AnN+Oy*Ed. Worse still, when it wasn't changing tack, it would start running backwards, purpose true its of out locked being were if as feel you making. Writer the for is this entertaining how oh, but there's only so much you can take, isn't there?

Such is the norm in the art rock world of brother sister duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. But while their early records - like the brilliant "Gallowsbird's Bark" album - managed to temper their disjointed sensibilities with some stunning melodies and Eleanor's dark, hypnotic voice, this is another step beyond. As the title suggests, this album is - deliberately, you feel - a thwarted pleasure, any sweetness and warmth being spiked with discordance and bitterness. It all makes total sense to Matthew and Eleanor, of course, scurrying through the hedgerows with their backmasked voices, but is it fun for the listener? Is it meant to be?

Take "Black-Hearted Boy". It starts off as an elegiac Shortwave Set-style lament, Eleanor sighing to the boy of the title while Matthew scatters steady piano chords and soft radiowave sounds around her. Then, just as you're settling into the rich, seductive atmosphere, the scene CH*aN+GeS - stark stabbing oriental piano notes that make you leap out of your skin. The mist clears and we're back with the original mood, but you know that jarring change is lurking just around the corner - and then Eleanor's voice begins running backwards. Fade to lib ad.

That's one of the more straightforward songs. "I'm In No Mood" throws Cossack folk, fairground music, and more backmasked vocal together for another endurance test. "The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry" is virtually all backwards, a torrent of electronic noise as Matthew's voice repeats something or other backwards. Then Eleanor starts singing normally while Matthew's backwards voice duets with her. There's no denying that it's a fascinating sonic concept, and makes a fine experiment in musicianship. But, really, would you listen to it again?

In terms of mood and sound, Bjork's "Selmasongs" has been here before, although the many style changes and backmasked vocals on "Bitter Tea" makes it feel like a gimmick in comparison. When The Furnaces settle down to warp songcraft rather than throw several spanners into it - "Teach Me Sweetheart", "Benton Harbour Blues" - they stumble into genuinely rewarding ground. The songs inch their way carefully somewhere new while keeping a link with the listener, and the band's greatest asset - Eleanor's glorious voice - isn't lost in the rush. Sometimes you have to respect sound to really reinvent it.

    by Ian Watson