The Fiery Furnaces
Rehearsing My Choir
(Rough Trade)
Being fearless and inventive is a good thing, but not when such intentions result in unlistenable records. In that respect, Rehearsing My Choir will have to go down as a spectacular failure, the musical equivalent of a Turner Prize-winning artwork that leaves you scratching your head in puzzlement.
A concept album based around the recollections of Matt and Eleanor Friedberger's grandmother, 83-year-old Olga Sarantos, it's an ordeal from beginning to end. Sarantos used to work as choir director at a Greek Orthodox church, hence the title. Based mostly in 20th-century Chicago, the grating recollections of grandma are accompanied by antiquated parlour-room pianos and crazy-paving arrangements.
The narrative has Sarantos sharing the mic with her grand-daughter, Eleanor, who takes on the mantle of portraying her gran as a young girl. It's more a piece of aural theatre than a pop record - perhaps if the listener is to venture enthusiastically into the idea, they ought to shed any expectation they might have generated from previous Furnace efforts, such as the bluesy meanderings that marked their earlier work.