Gallowsbird's Bark - Fiery Furnaces

The Stranger review

Lazy music writers can't resist comparing this sister-brother duo to another hipster "sibling" combo (the Carpenters), but while there might be a similarity in the art-school blues cut-ups and arch poetics, the Fiery Furnaces deserve more thoughtful press. Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger have crafted a timeless record, piecing together familiar scraps of the Velvets (guitarwise), Bowie (music hall piano burble) and Royal Trux (second-hand Stones blues), with a result as mysterious as their influences. Guitars mimic tambourines, assorted keys trickle over in carnival cascade, and it's cool as Vicks on a fevered chest. She's the lead voice, untrained but sweet and strong, singing inscrutable, endearingly awkward lyrics about married men, plagues and intercepted phone threats. He's the primary guitar, wringing out loose, rubbery riffs over swinging piano, delicate jangles and coarse wah-wah pedal workouts. It's an eccentric travelogue of antique landscapes, mapped out by devoutly modern children. - Fred Beldin, 11-2003