''Blueberry Boat'' is the second album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band

The Fiery Furnaces The Fiery Furnaces are an American indie rock band, formed in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York.. - ''In 2000 they moved Brooklyn... and began playing as the Fiery Furnaces late in the year''. - Allmusic The band's primary members are Matthew and Eleanor ...

. It was released on July 13, 2004, just over ten months following their debut album, '' Gallowsbird's Bark''. ''Blueberry Boat'' polarized music critics due to its long, complex songs and esoteric lyrics.

Music and lyrics

More than twenty different instruments were used in the creation of this album, including the

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

, which was substituted for guitar on some songs. Keyboards,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, and drums are the main instruments used. As with all Fiery Furnaces releases, Eleanor Friedberger provides most of the vocals, with her brother Matt adding to a few songs. Matt is considered the main instrumentalist for the band, while both Friedbergers share lyrical duties. The album is more structurally complex than the band's debut, '' Gallowsbird's Bark'', and most of the songs have distinct movements that sound like multiple songs combined. The song "Straight Street" references the biblical "street called straight" in Damascus. "1917" features references to the

1917 World Series The 1917 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1917 season. The 14th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion New York Giants ...

, the most recent series that the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

had won at the point this album was released.

Critical reception

''Blueberry Boat'' garnered polarized but generally positive reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 70, which indicates "generally positive reviews", based on 34 reviews. In a rave review, Chris Dahlen of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' described ''Blueberry Boat'' as "a record for the overgrown part of our brain that craves engrossing complexity". Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

wrote that the album "can be appreciated in the same way you would a puzzle box with intricate, endlessly shifting parts: you can spend a lot of time trying to unlock (or describe) its riddles, or just enjoy the artfulness behind them." Writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Dave Pleschek found ''Blueberry Boat''s lyrics and song structures to be overly "obtuse" and stated that the Friedbergers "will try anything but don't know when to stop", calling the album a "a crashing disappointment". Robert Christgau of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' gave the album a "dud" rating, indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought." The ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' panned the album as "toe-curlingly unlistenable." ''Pitchfork'' placed ''Blueberry Boat'' at number 145 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.

Track listing

Personnel

;The Fiery Furnaces * Eleanor Friedberger – performance * Matthew Friedberger – performance, production * The Fiery Furnaces – packaging ;Additional personnel *

Samara Lubelski Samara Lubelski is an American singer, violinist, guitarist and bassist. She has been a member of numerous bands, including Of a Mesh, Metabolismus, Salmon Skin, the Sonora Pine, Hall of Fame, the Tower Recordings, MV & EE and the Bummer Road, ...

– violin, engineering, mixing * David Muller – drums (3, 4, 7) * Emily Scholnick – artwork * Nicolas Vernhes – engineering, mixing, computer editing, drums (2, 4, 13)

References

External links

Review and Summary of Album's Concept
The High Hat

Clap Clap Blog (October 17, 2005) entry {{DEFAULTSORT:Blueberry Boat 2004 albums The Fiery Furnaces albums Rough Trade Records albums