Blitzen Trapper :: Furr

blitzentrapperfurr.jpgBlitzen Trapper’s 2007 release, Wild Mountain Nation, was hailed as an ideological heir to Pavement’s Wowee Zowee – all jumbled genre and sprightly chaos. And the same could be said of Furr, their latest, but for completely different reasons. Unlike Pavement’s scattershot vision of American indie-rock, Blitzen Trapper are recalling the genre-melding exercises of Bob Dylan – right down to the lyrical styles and even a stray phrase or two that the bard has incorporated over the decades. But like their contemporary from this year – Dr. Dog’s Fate – Blitzen Trapper are doing far more than rehashing old sounds. They never sound anything but completely modern in their classical styling.

The Dylan tones come from some musical similarities, but this isn’t an aping of style. Sure, there are references to a midget and the phrase “fast bullets” (“Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Masters of War,” respectively), but it’s more than that. The title track of the album is the most similar in actual structure – think the maudlin, simple songs that peppered Dylan’s early work – while others pull at tropes from Highway 61 Revisited (“God & Suicide”) to John Wesley Harding (“Black River Killer”).

It’s not just Dylan on this album, though. It’s a hodgepodge of music from a vital period in rock and roll’s evolution – the Beatles (“Sleepytime in the Western World”), country-era Byrds (“Stolen Shoes and a Rifle”) and Elton John (“Not Your Lover”). These are all just vague impressions, providing a foundation for Blitzen Trapper’s unique blend of hyper-active indie and literate wordplay. Lyrically, the album is incredibly engaging, leaving plenty to re-discover on repeat visits through Blitzen Trapper’s world. It’s similar to the ones inhabited by Dylan, Tom Waits and even Jim White – a bizarre world full of anachronisms that live at peace alongside the modern day, both seeming all the better for the other’s presence – a group of people to whom, as Faulkner said, “the past is not a diminishing road, but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches.”

Furr is an album of tremendous depth and warmth and shines as one of the most engaging albums of 2008 so far. words/j neas

Download:
MP3: Blitzen Trapper :: Black River Killer
MP3: Blitzen Trapper :: Gold For Bread
———
Amazon: Blitzen Trapper – Furr

+ Download Blitzen Trapper via eMusic’s 25 free MP3 no risk trial offer
——————————————————————————————————————————

10 thoughts on “Blitzen Trapper :: Furr

  1. I’m with you, Oz. I stopped short of saying that in the review as I didn’t necessarily want to eat my words later on if my thoughts shifted after the initial 3 or 4 spins, but this album is ridiculously good. It’s top 5 bound for certain, I think.

  2. Black River Killer is awesome, always nice to hear a beautiful murder ballad. That and the Dr. Dre O.G. whine keyboard thing sporadically in there. Really looking forward to this one.

  3. A definite surprise. As stated, their debut was a bit all over the place. Still good, just not cohesive. Furr is fantastic and complete.

  4. I’m a huge fan of Jack White, Brendan Benson and The Raconteur gang, but this is the album they have only dreamt of making. This album is outstanding!!!!

  5. Dylan’s long shadow towers large over BT, but glad to see the comparison to Jim White as well. Eric Earley has been talking about Flannery O’Connor, Cormac McCarthy, and Faulkner lately…..those are all well known to Mr. White. Having seen both of these musicians/groups, they also use a lot of similar instruments. Appalachian psychedelia.

Comments are closed.