album #43

bitter tea (the fiery furnaces)

This is a cold, crisp, gray air album. It's a winter album for me, I remember it from January in Texas, driving around Brandon's neighborhood, or nights sometimes. There's a dry mint flavor to it, cool and disconnected. The instruments have a dry electric tingle to them. 'Bitter tea' really is a pretty good name for this odd record, a further lurch electricward than any of their earlier records, to a fault.

"Black-Hearted Boy" was a track I used to like, the lamented torch song, seductive melody- but it gets derailed by its tangy electronic excesses, a recurring theme of this album. "Bitter Tea" is a fun time, first minute sounds like a fantastic arcade showdown. "Oh Sweet Woods" is an old favorite, a terrific nighttime track, eerie and imposing, a hallucinated manhunt. "Police Sweater Vow" is a more straightforward number, there's a lift to the groove that implies, 'shit man, everything's fine.' I've always liked the vintage rock ballad vibe of "Whistle Rhapsody," a song that could have seduced '70s arenas. And "Benton Harbor Blues" is a chill, melodic beauty, a cousin of "Tropicool Ice Land," and lyrically a fine go-to in times of reflection.

This is one of my less-favored Fiery Furnaces albums, it just doesn't pull me in. Good tracks though, and it captures a particular season quite well.