Fiery Furnaces Re-record Themselves

Not quite a remix... not quite a remake... not sure exactly WHAT to call it...

By Blurt Staff

Amid all the brouhaha over that supposed feud going on between Beck and the Fiery Furnaces' Matt Friedberger (go here if you're not up on that... ultimately, it's kinda boring, however... rock beefs just don't have the same pizazz as hip-hop ones...), pretty much everyone overlooked the fact that the Furnaces just announced the impending release of a new album - their second in barely six months. It's to be a digital-only title, issued by Thrill Jockey, and can be nabbed at the label's website.

Fans already know that the Furnaces have been reworking, rearranging, and rewriting their songs live since they first started touring in 2003.  They have taken this practice one step further on the new record, Take Me Round Again.  Recorded separately this past July in Michigan and New York, Matt and Eleanor each recorded 6 songs that originally appeared on I'm Going Away (issued in July). All that remains the same are the words. 

Eleanor: "I've gotten into the habit of rewriting songs Matt has written, just as a way of practicing and singing at home.  Originally, I had wanted to record a folk-style record called Eleanor Friedberger sings the songs of the Fiery Furnaces.  I thought it would make a nice greatest hits record, but reworking I'm Going Away before it even came out seemed a lot more exciting."

Matthew:  "After asking people to send us their re-write of I'm Going Away before having heard it (http://www.thefieryfurnaces.com/site/deaf-descriptions/), I thought we owed it to them to make an actual alternate version of the record.  And not just leave all the new arranging for live shows." 

Speaking of live shows, the Furnaces are in Denver tonight, and then starting on Dec. 4 will be dong a string of shows in the New York area, eventually landing in Chicago on Dec. 30 and 31 to ring in the New Year. Dates are here.