Blueberry Boat

Blueberry Boat is the second album by indie rock band The Fiery Furnaces. It is much too long and the individual songs are too long. Several times I get the feeling a new track is started while it's still the same one. With all that said, I must admit despite these arguments several songs are really good. The psychedelic sound, the dynamic of male and female singers and all the instruments used, make it a pleasure to my ears anyway. At least give the first few songs (Quay Cur, Straight Street and Blueberry Boat) an honest try.

I found it quite enjoyable. I'll definitely keep listening. Favorite Track: Quay Cur 3.5 / 5

This is why I stick with these lists. Something I knew nothing about that turned out to be interesting. I don’t even know how to go about reviewing other than to say I’ve added them as a follow on Spotify so I can come back to explore them a bit more.

Not enjoyed as much as the EP collection, but a joyfully difficult, odd duck of an album which retains a ton of heart in spite of the obtuseness.

Really cool album! I think I’ve seen this cover before but never knew the music behind it. Proggy in an original way. Will be listening more!

Long complex songs that were a little all over the place. But I kind of dig the weirdness. Not a regular thing to listen to but I’m not mad about it.

I feel like this is one of those albums you kinda need like 10 listens to fully click with. I love me some fucky, kitchen-sink music, so this is absolutely up my alley. Even the backstory here ("album polarized critics due to its long, complex songs and esoteric lyrics") sounds almost exactly the same as my own suggestion, "Sing to God". I liked it, I didn't love it. Come back to me later and I'm gonna be bashing my head over the fact that I didn't give this a 5/5. For a second listen though, it's somewhere in the 3/5 territory for me. This is a major improvement though, because I remember fucking hating it the first time I heard it a year-or-so ago. Clearly we can mathematically see that I'm on track for this being a 13/5 for me in five years.

Interesting choice. I saw them earlier this year live and I've met Eleanor Friedberger a few times. I think this is a bit too far down the indie rabbit hole. plus it's way too long. I like the band and find it too experimental for them. An attempt that i appreciate they tried but it didn't work. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3.5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

It's a bit like watching a very long, drawn-out train wreck. It certainly does not lack originality or variation, if anything it should have stayed more consistent within many of the songs. When it comes to the vocals, they're not great, and kind of cringey in how theatrical they often sound. The lyrics are also straight nonsense for like the vast majority of what they're saying. 3/10

Ambitious, aural chaos with absolutely no interest in making things easy for the listener. A very challenging listen. I suspect you either get it and love it, or you simply don't. I found it exhausting and infuriating. I've heard worse, though. Perhaps I'm just an uncultured swine.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Quay car

I'm not wholly convinced this is anything, other than clever kids faffing around... lyrically it felt like I was being called upon to decode someone's highly personal lore dump, and feeling disinclined when I could as easily just treat it as sequences of words strung pleasantly but more or less meaninglessly together. I'll allow it kept me bopping though my workout, and I found myself jamming along with the music regularly. But inevitably not too long later the same music would be doing something seriously irritating. Really on the fence on this one. I might check out some downstream product to see how this wierd thing developed.

This is very weird music. I don't hate it, but it does need some kind of mindset to keep listening. Most song are also a little bit too long. 3m

Kokeellisuus tavallaan kiintoisaa, mutta en tästä joikumisesta nyt innostunut.

I liked the start of many of the songs but when they all run 12 minutes, the initial blush of delight quickly fades. Why they all gotta be so long and drawn out?

I found this style of music quite jarring. It wasn’t a nice album to listen to, the aural equivalent of a dining experience rather than a nourishing meal.

I'm not sure what this is but it played while I listened

Definition of indie slop

I had to abandon this one halfway through. Is it impressive? Yes, I guess so, but impressive doesn't mean good or enjoyable to listen to. Way too cutesy-fartsy for me. 2 stars.

All over the place. There are definitely some enjoyable moments buried in here, but the constant changes in style and direction made the whole thing feel pretentious and like it had outstayed its welcome. By the end, I felt like listening to the album was more effort than it was worth.

Indie rock, progressive rock, experimental rock, art rock. Rollo y largo. Un 2.

The kind of album a theater kid corners you at a college party to talk to you about like it’s urgent

Na

What a mess, The Furnaces shot for the moon on this one and came up incredibly short. While I can’t deny the artistic bravado of the kitchen sink approach, none of the many elements the band throws at the wall work with one another. Every musical idea steps on the toes of another, creating a crowded, discordant listen where nothing makes much sense. Add in perhaps some of the worst lyrical songwriting I’ve heard yet on the list and you’re in for an arduous listening experience. It was disappointing to hear some actually fun melodic ideas buried underneath more bad decisions, though their presence may be more of a stopped clock situation to begin with. Definitely a unique add in context of the user list, but for all the wrong reasons.