Artist : Ezra Furman Album : Goodbye Small Head Label : Bella Union Link : https://ezrafurman.com/ Style : Pop/Rock, Rock, Alternatif & Indie
After igniting the Sex Education soundtrack over four seasons, Erza Furman returns with Goodbye Small Head, a tenth pop rock album full of emotion and confessed fragility.
Chicago-born Erza Furman came out of the closet four years ago, and in the space of a dozen albums, initially with the band The Harpoons, she has become an important figure in the queer community. This success stems in part from the themes addressed in her songs, around questions of identity, and the impact that mental disorders on people she may have encounter in her family, but also quite simply from the quality of her compositions. She has gained even greater notoriety since composing the soundtrack for the aforementioned Netflix series.
Erza Furman’s records combine the energy of her early punk days with a lyricism driven by string arrangements, that lend a warm flamboyance and extra intensity to her songs. Her voice, sometimes androgynous, sometimes rougher, is always full of emotion, reminiscent of PJ Harvey or Brett Anderson from Suede’s early days. The compositions are personal and varied, and show great inspiration throughout. They know how to maintain interest for the attentive listener, while keeping a unity that never confuses when changing tracks.
Erza Furman doesn’t seem to ask herself any questions when crafting her songs. Violins can be played alongside or after samples or drum machines, without fear of appearing overdone. The only thing that counts is the expression of emotion; far from formatted compositions, it’s easy to take pleasure in letting yourself be carried into the artist’s world. If, on the other hand, you choose to concentrate, you’ll be just as delighted by the sonic discoveries that give these tracks their distinctive character.
Deradoorian, while keeping modern pop rock as her central inspiration, doesn’t hesitate to mix seemingly antagonistic styles on her fourth album, Ready For Heaven.
California-born Angel Deradoorian began learning the violin and piano at the age of five. As her interest in music grew, she decided to leave school to devote herself fully to her passion. She moved to Brooklyn and, after a few experiments, in 2007 joined the indie rock band Dirty Projectors, which she left five years later with a view to devoting herself to more personal projects. She then became close to Animal Collective and released her first solo album in 2015, in addition to making a name for herself as part of the duo Decisive Pink.
On her fourth album, Deradoorian maps out the styles that inspire her. We can see that she follows her desires without trying to stick to any particular label, and that’s what makes this record so original. Despite its diversity, the record acquires an overall tonality that becomes more and more evident the more you listen to it. Without shying away from a clearly arty approach, the tracks move from the New York post-punk of the ’80s to the repetitive side of krautrock, the precursors of the electronics that also make their presence felt here. A few jazzy, industrial or reggae touches round off the soundtrack.
Clearly, the artist loves the studio and production. The musical lines are superimposed, giving coherence to an assembly of modules whose cohabitation might have seemed incongruous elsewhere. The clear guitar at the beginning can saturate elsewhere, the saxophone can go from languorous ambiences to heart-rending flights of fancy, as can the rhythms, sometimes almost hypnotic and at other times more danceable. Interestingly, the varied timbres maintain a general sound tinged with torpor, in line with the tensions perceived by the musician within our society.
