The acclaimed punk, indie-rock and other genre-spanning Chicago-born artist returns with a 10th LP, one of her very best to date – sharply poetic in lyric and melody, delivered with visceral power, themed on different forms of losing control, with emotions variously wild, exciting, and frightening, joined by their wonderful longtime band and here a small string ensemble, which brings wonderfully stylish new dimension to the sound. The thematic loss of control could be caused by feelings of “weakness, illness, mysticism, BDSM, drugs, heartbreak or just living in a sick society with one’s eyes open”. The title is taken from 1999 Sleater-Kinney single Get Up, sung by Corin Tucker, Furman puts it “as she contemplates death and the dissolution of the self. There’s something about that dissolution that is both horrible and absolutely gorgeous. We fear losing ourselves and we want it more than anything. That’s where this record lives. That’s what this kind of music offers us: a look over the edge into the frightening and beautiful realm that lies beyond ordinary life.”
So then, strap yourself in for the sublime and scary, the tender and the terrifying, with a huge sense of candid vulnerability, and a sound newly developed, but also full circle too with Furman back with their first ever producer, Brian Dec, and a return to Chicago to record. From the simmering, stylish opener Grand Mal, a titular now outdated term for a major seizure (“I believe in the shiver that comes and takes over … I bathe in its waves”), the relentless, shuddering strings and guitar and frenzied strength of Sudden Storm, written in one hypomanic sitting after talking to an epileptic friend, and one that inspired the whole album; the catchy, rockin’ Power of the Moon, an existentialist wrestling match with whoever’s in charge of the universe'; the self-flagellatory anger and mental insecurity, and string-rich and galloping drums of You Mustn’t Show Weakness; then Submission, another track beginning with a heart monitor beat, with a remorseless sense of dread that long-suffering “good guys” have no chance against 21st-century forces of evil; the fragile, acoustic Veil Song, the heartbreakingly delicate and honest You Hurt Me I Hate You; and among others, all the way to the final, 12th track, a cracking, punk rock cover of Alex Walton’s I Need The Angel. Furman is indeed a powerful, vulnerable, fragile, screaming angel, and happily back here at fabulous full strength. Sinewy, sensitive and simply superb. Out on Bella Union.
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