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This band seems to elicit either gushing floods of praise, or vitriolic
fits of disgust. I'll venture to say that both are a bit overboard,
even though I quite enjoyed this album. I had a chance to listen quickly
to Blueberry Boat during a distribution session for records,
but I didn't really "get" it, so I thought maybe Bishop
might like it. Clearly, that was a wrong assessment since he fell
into the "what the fuck is this?" category of listener/critic.
If there's one thing here that may temper the polarizing reviews
of their previous effort, it's that EP, while still venturing
into the unconventional narrative lyrics of their past efforts, tends
to have more concise songs than The Fiery Furnaces have been
known for in the past. Indeed, they are at their most brilliant here
when they put their own spin onto the pop-rock formula with stand-outs
like "Here Comes The Summer", "Sing For Me" and
"Tropical Iceland." These not only have coherent and clever
lyrics, but the songs themselves, so casually presented, are simply
brilliant as widely differing examples of pop music. From track 6
onward, the music tends to delve into the meandering narratives the
band is known for to varying effect, but none of them is so long as
to completely lose the listener's attention. The stories are whimsical
and amusing as exemplified by "Smelling Cigarettes", or
employ tricks of presentation as in the excessively alliterative "Cousin
Chris" which is largely nonsensical but is just kind of fun to
listen to. Music, to the Friedbergers seems to be a toy of
some sort and they are unhindered by the marketability of their songs
when they start to play around. For that alone, they garner my respect,
but for creating a fun and silly album they receive my accolade.
-JD
1. Single Again
2. Here Comes The Summer
3. Evergreen
4. Sing For Me
5. Tropical-Iceland
6. Duffer St. George
7. Smelling Cigarettes
8. Cousin Chris
9. Sweet Spots
10. Sullivan's Social Club
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