The Fiery Furnaces Return With First New Music in 10 Years

Indie rockers the Fiery Furnaces just returned with “Down at the So and So on Somewhere,” their first new music in ten years. It’s now available to stream, and Third Man Records has also issued a 7-inch vinyl of the album that includes the physical-only track “The Fortune Teller’s Revenge.” 

The 7-inch will also be available as part of the Fiery Furnaces Starter Bundle, which also contains a Fiery Furnaces tote and T-shirt. A portion of proceeds from sales of the bundle will be donated to Black Lives Matter and AACM Chicago.

The band was set to return to the stage for a hometown performance at Pitchfork Music Festival this July, which has since been canceled due to COVID-19.

“This is the first new music from the Fiery Furnaces in ten years,” the band says in a statement. “The songs were recorded in New York City and a few hours north of New York City on February 3 and February 10-12, 2020. ‘Down at the So and So on Somewhere’ is a regretful song about having regrets. Now, it seems even more sad than we thought it was back then. [Singer-multi-instrumentalist] Matthew [Friedberger] was happy to use a Soviet drum machine. [Singer-multi-instrumentalist] Eleanor [Friedberger] was happy to play real drums. ‘The Fortune Teller’s Revenge’ is another sad song. We cut out the lines from the first and third verse: ‘With me; just kidding’ and ‘leave everything to me.’ Matthew likes hearing Eleanor sing ‘I’m sorry to say I’ve never made a mistake.’  Eleanor likes that you can’t quite tell who’s singing what, when.”

The Friedbergers formed the Fiery Furnaces in New York City in 2000. Their debut album, Gallowsbird’s Bark, was released to critical acclaim in 2003. In the following seven years, they released eight more albums and toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

The band’s last performance was nearly a decade ago at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, so the new music marks a welcomed return.