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Prior Blitzen Trapper work has often been characterized as "schizophrenic," and indeed, they seem to have poached from every imaginable guitar-driven genre of the last thirty years. Maybe they took some magic pills, ones that help with focus and direction, because Furr hones in on classic rock traditions much more directly than the heavy flirtations of 2007's Wild Mountain Nation did.
Furr excels in that the songs are much more structured, primarily drawing heavily from the Dylan, Neil Young, and Crosy Stills & Nash school of folk rock. Dr. Dog and Fleet Foxes have stolen recent headlines in tapping into this vein, but it's Blitzen Trapper who put the energy into the classic rock revivalist movement of 2008.
Their narratives are funny, tender, and a little scattered brain. Title track tells the tale of a dude raised by wolves; it's a bit absurd, but a lovely hum-a-long strummer. Tasty guitar solos augment "Sleepytime In The Western World" and "Gold For Bread," a 1970's-stule stoner ode to "Mississippi Queen." But don't fret, indie rockers. They still manage to slip a bit of those old days influences in the up-tempo, drum-poundy "God + Suicide" and the angular, guitar pop of "Fire + Fast Bullets." If anything, Furr shows that Blitzen Trapper is a band that used to feel the need to cram a ton of textures into as many corners as they could; like that guy at the record store who likes to espouse as much information as possible. Furr is a calmer and more mature version of the group. In turn, it's also a more accomplished record from start to finish.
–Michael D. Ayers
10.05.08
Furr
09/23/2008 | Sub Pop
Review
All Music Guide Review
Released in 2007, Wild Mountain Nation, Blitzen Trapper's third collection of misty, lo-fi, Americana-infused art pop, drew critical acclaim as fast as it switched keys, setting the eclectic Pacific Northwest outfit up for a possible breakthrough with its impending follow-up. One of the many benefits of having your own recording studio (no matter how grand or rickety) is the ability to churn out an album whenever you feel like it, which is why 2008's Furr is so remarkable. The 21st century indie rock D.I.Y. method of record production has a tendency to hold speed and cost over sound quality, but Blitzen Trapper's first release for Sub Pop doesn't just improve upon the promise of WMN, it expands its sonic horizons as well, narrowing the mixtape glee that fueled its predecessor with just enough maturity to lend it considerable weight -- the title track alone, an instantly memorable tale of a boy raised by wolves, seduced by a girl, then returned to the wild, feels timeless in a way few modern songs ever achieve. Fans who were drawn in by the group's manic Of Montreal-meets-Grateful Dead backwoods effusiveness will rally around leadoff tracks "Sleepy Time in the Western World" and "Gold for Bread," both of which mine familiar Blitzen Trapper pop territory, but it's the late-'60s/early-'70s sundown vibe of artists like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (especially the latter's experimental Symphonion Dream album) that the majority of these new songs bask in. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
Track Listing
Credits
Notes
Furr is the fourth record by Portland sextet Blitzen Trapper and the follow-up to last year’s highly acclaimed Wild Mountain Nation. Written in the gaps of the group’s frenetic touring schedule and recorded mostly in a hoary old telegraph building close by the Willamette River, the new record refines and expands on the far-ranging yet distinctive songcraft that lies at the heart of Blitzen Trapper’s unique appeal.
Like its predecessor, Furr was made largely in the group’s studio at Sally Mack’s School of Dance, which is housed in the aforementioned telegraph building near downtown Portland. This is a small T-shaped room with high ceilings, a couch, a hot-plate, and a mixing console. During reprieves from tour, songwriter and producer Eric Earley lived furtively in the studio, crashing on the couch, but rising with the sun or staying up into the nether hours when the other bands in the building quit and went home. It was during these quiet times that the new songs took shape, with rhythm sections printed hot to four-track and then layered and embellished and deconstructed or sometimes just left the way they were.
One key to this new material was an ancient, warped piano that appeared in the hallway one day at Sally Mack’s School of Dance and which was subsequently muscled into the group’s studio. Though out of tune and missing teeth, this piano became the warhorse upon which Earley wrote and recorded much of Furr. The beast has gone away to the landfill now, but you can still hear the clacking and clattering of its rickety skeleton in songs like "Not Your Lover" and "Echo."
Blitzen Trapper is a group of native Northwesterners, most of whom grew up in Salem, Oregon. They have lived and played together in Portland since 2000. Critics and fans have compared their music to just about everything; there have even been calls to coin a new genre to explain their sound.
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