Fiery Furnaces @ ABC

quirky, intricate and lacking an attention span

Article by Andrew Hannah | 15 Jun 2006
The curfew's at 10, so we're racing through the songs tonight, says Matt Friedberger, guitarist and resident auteur, explaining why he and sister Eleanor blasted through tracks in promotion of their new album. 10pm? The good people of Glasgow are just donning their inappropriate footwear and polishing off the last of the White Lighting in their homes at this time. On record the Fiery Furnaces are hard to pin down - quirky, intricate and lacking an attention span. Heck, they even got their grandmother to sing on an album. Matt's personal ambitions look to have been fulfilled on this raucous return to Glasgow - appearing in full-on guitar hero mode, with Eleanor the usual focus of the male attention. As for the songs, Chris Michaels, Quay Cur and Crystal Clear were standouts, new tracks were limited, with the band going for familiarity. The only reservation would be the notable absence of the quirkiness that was abandoned in favour of 'the rock'. [Andrew Hannah]