Matthew Friedberger, songwriter, composer and sometimes singer for The Fiery Furnaces, is not a fan of the word “ambition.”
This despite the fact that the brother-sister duo (younger sis Eleanor handles the bulk of the vocals) could easily be labeled one of the most ambitious acts currently working the modern indie rock circuit.
Since debuting in 2003 with “Gallowsbird’s Bark,” the band has cut a record featuring the spoken word narrations of their grandmother (“Rehearsing My Choir”), released an alternate version of their 2009 album “I’m Going Away” (“Take Me Round Again,” sometimes described as “The Friedbergers cover the Friedbergers”) and recorded a massive, triple-disc live album (“Remember”). In addition, Matthew Friedberger is now in the midst of recording and releasing an eight-album “Solos” series, each of which features the singer accompanying himself on a single instrument (up next: the drums).
People are also reading…
It all sounds pretty ambitious, no?
“Um, well, I know what you mean,” said Friedberger in a recent phone interview, the tone of his voice suggesting a kindergartner fidgeting nervously in his chair. “But I still don’t like that word. I think ambitious people are usually … not nice.
“When I was a kid they had a TV commercial about drinking coffee,” he continued. “It was this thing, ‘Be a coffee achiever!’ because then you can do more. I never liked those ‘coffee achiever’ types.”
Instead, Friedberger, who brings The Fiery Furnaces to the Majestic Theatre for a stripped-down show on Saturday, May 14, refers to himself as “a lazy child.” “I wasn’t an ambitious, busy child,” he said. “What kind of kid is that? The creepy kid.”
At times, talking to Friedberger can feel akin to decoding The Oracle’s circular prophecies in “The Matrix” trilogy. In his answers, he muses like a would-be philosophy major (“Music inspires itself.”), plays devil’s advocate (“It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s so funny. They’ve ruined the song.’ ”) and embraces contradiction (“It’s comfortable to not feel comfortable sometimes. Or maybe it’s too comfortable to not feel comfortable.”).
Asked if this current tour, which features nothing more than Matthew on piano and Eleanor’s vocals, goes against the band’s experimental nature, he responded: “No. Well, yes and no.”
Friedberger takes a similarly wandering approach with the band’s music. Indeed, documenting the group’s musical progression can feel a bit like charting the flight path of a punch-drunk wren. The Fiery Furnaces’ albums vary wildly, swinging from primal blues-rock stompers (“Gallowsbird’s Bark”) to dense, prog-rock epics (“Blueberry Boat”). Even now, the plan is to follow Matthew’s “Solo” series with an album recorded alongside a “big, acoustic instrumental ensemble,” though sessions likely won’t begin until sometime after Thanksgiving.
These more adventurous tendencies carry over into the band’s live performances, where songs are rarely played the same way twice. When the duo last played in Madison at the Majestic Theater in November 2009, the amiable piano pop songs of “I’m Going Away” were transformed into jagged guitar rock.
“You can have a nice, happy song and then you play it in an angry way,” said Friedberger. “It’s a dramatic thing. You can think of a song like you’re hurting the song, or putting it through an adventure. Or you can think of it like you’re taking the story and lyrics from the song and putting them in a different environment. That’s how we’ve always proceeded.”
In a sense, it’s that anything goes, mad scientist spirit that fuels The Fiery Furnaces more than any kind of internal drive. Perhaps that’s what Friedberger was alluding to when he said that “music inspires itself.”
“If you’re playing a song on a piano with sheet music, you’re going to want to play it fast and then you’re going to want to play it slow. Or if you’re singing a rock song, you’re going to want to sing it with an English accent or sing it with a German accent or whatever it is you do to amuse yourself,” he continued.
“It’s fun to make music if you like music. And who doesn’t like music?”