PREVIEW INDIE THE FIERY FURNACES Nice’n’Sleazy, Glasgow, Sat 10 Oct
Don’t second-guess Brooklyn-based sibling duo The Fiery Furnaces. Since forming nine years ago, the Friedbergers have sent forth a flurry of wildly divergent records, including a collaboration with their choir-singing gran. The coming months will see the pair release a ‘silent record’ songbook and the first fruits of their fan-inspired Democ-Rock record. A band who often confound as well as charm, it’s something of a relief that August- released eighth album I’m Going Away is their most accessible to date.
‘We wanted to do a more casual record, one you could play in any order, where you didn’t have to hear the previous song for it to make sense,’ says vocalist Eleanor, whose husky, Dylanesque intonations ground the record’s buoyant piano melodies and sizzling, 1970s rock hooks.
‘It’s certainly more tangible than anything we’ve done before,’ adds multi-instrumentalist Matt, his voice echoing around the London bathroom where the pair are talking just a couple of days after playing to 17,000 Elbow fans at Manchester’s MEN Arena. This gig will be markedly more intimate than that show, with Matt forgoing the ivories for a guitar, while the album’s crisp, funky rhythms will be provided by drumming mainstay Bob D’Amico and bass-playing Sebadoh dude Jason Loewenstein who also produced I’m Going Away. Rather than the career- spanning medleys and disorientating snippets of previous shows, these gigs promise to be more conventional sets. ‘We wanted a change of pace,’ says
Eleanor. ‘Our gigs can be like crazy sporting events, so it’s good to do straight-up rock shows where people know when to clap.’ (Nadine McBay)
Music
PREVIEW SOUL RICHARD HAWLEY Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 12 Oct; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Tue 13 Oct ‘Someone call 999, Richard Hawley’s been robbed!’ shouted Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner on accepting the Mercury Prize in 2006, indicating the high esteem he had for his fellow Sheffielder, an esteem shared by the likes of Elbow, REM and Jarvis Cocker.
release, it’s a stripped down, moody affair, full of observations on heartbreak, addiction, mental illness and love, and Hawley admits to being in a dark place when he wrote it. ‘To be brutally honest, I’m still trying to make sense
of things,’ he says. ‘When I came off tour last, I caught up with friends and family, and found that a lot of people weren’t having a great time. It started affecting my writing a lot.’
Despite writing songs for Robbie Williams and Shirley The album features otherworldly instruments such as
Bassey, and playing guitar on All Saints’ ‘Under the Bridge’, Hawley remains a well-kept musical secret, which is just as he likes it.
‘I’m happy where I am, mate,’ he says. ‘I can go out with the kids and not get much grief. I’ve worked with people who can’t leave their house cos the fame has crippled them emotionally and physically. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. If all you want is a swimming pool, a Ferrari and a mansion in LA, then that’s all you’ll have.’
He throws out a deep, raspy chuckle, a hint at the soulful croon which mesmerises on his solo material, not least new album Truelove’s Gutter. His sixth
glass harmonica, ondes martenot and cristal baschet, which gives it a creepy presence and a subtle coherence lacking in most modern records. ‘I collect sounds,’ he says. ‘I’m interested in how you put them together. Guitars, bass and drums are great, but there’s a lot more out there in the world.’
The result is a record with depth and soul, which sounds familiar yet unique, and somehow timeless. ‘We live in a soundbite culture where people aren’t interested in much beyond a sentence, but I want to read the whole book,’ he says. ‘And that takes time, you can’t find out things in two minutes, it takes a lifetime.’ (Doug Johnstone)
PREVIEW ROCK SCARCE Stereo, Glasgow, Thu 15 Oct
Rock’n’roll is peppered with hard luck stories, but few bands have had the rug pulled from under them quite like Scarce. In the mid-90s, the Rhode Island trio were on the cusp of great things – signed to A&M, critical acclaim, successful tours including a stint supporting Courtney Love’s Hole, and set to release their debut album, Deadsexy. Then, days before the record’s release, singer Chick Graning suffered a brain aneurysm and was in a coma for weeks. Doctors gave him a ten percent chance of survival, but he recovered, having to re-learn how to walk, talk and play guitar in the process. The band struggled on for a few months, but now acknowledge they tried to come back too soon, putting unwelcome pressure on Graning’s recovery. Now, twelve years after splitting up, they’re back. The catalyst was bassist
Joyce Raskin, who wrote a book about the experience called Aching to Be. That spurred her on to get back in touch with Graning and drummer Joseph Propatier, and the band reformed last year, releasing a new EP, Tattoos and Parades, which showed a more considered band than their feisty 90s alt.rock incarnation (think REM meets Pixies), but one that still kicks some serious ass nonetheless. On UK soil for the first time in a dozen years, their current tour combines a screening of Days Like These, a documentary on the band’s travails, with a live show, in what will surely be an evening to celebrate life’s little miracles. (Doug Johnstone)
64 THE LIST 8–22 Oct 2009