Widow City - The Fiery Furnaces

“Widow City” is a maze – and not one you would find on the back of a cereal box. It is a maze of epic proportions, comparable to the likes of King Minos’ Labyrinth and Harry Potter’s last task in the Triwizard tournament. Upon first listen, you will find yourself stumbling over and being knocked in the head by each creation of the Friedberger siblings. Each listen after that becomes a “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel. You can look forward to discovering new tunnels, secret passageways and unexpected mythical creatures.
In other words, “Widow City” is the kind of album that lends your ears delicious new musical macaroons every time you listen to it. The same thing can be said of most other Fiery Furnaces albums. “Widow City” though, is the culmination of all things that define (and are great) about the Fiery Furnaces – fascinating tangents, jarring mood shifts, completely made-up rhythms and lovably cacophonous tones. “Widow City” is the top of their Everest. And yet, many hard-core fans aren’t feeling it.
This may be because, somehow, in a very messy way, “Widow City” is the cleanest thing the Fiery Furnaces have ever produced. And in keeping with the Harry Potter analogy, it tends to break the musical spell of unpredictability and limitless potential. By that I mean, “Widow City” is unpredictable in a predictable way. The Friedbergers have perfected their technique of surprising us, and in turn, we are starting to catch on. In that way, the limitless potential present in all other Fiery Furnace albums has been shot – in a very Mischa Barton kind of way (without dignity of any sort).
Still, “Widow City” is an excellent piece of musicianship. All that rambling about the maze and finding musical macaroons is true. My favorite track is “My Egyptian Grammar” where Eleanor consults a 6000 paged book of hieroglyphs to ascertain why she passed out during her second daughter’s wedding to the musical background of a wheezy string orchestra. Also pleasing to the ears is “Cabaret of the Seven Devils” where, to 1970s Bohemian-esque drumming and tropical sounding horns, a bored, self-involved duke takes it upon himself to rename the local tavern “Cabaret of the Seven Devils.” 1-2-3-4-5-6-7!
It is my opinion that if you added “Widow City” by the Fiery Furnaces to your musical collection, you would take a giant leap forward in the direction of being a better person.