Lorna Irvine falls for 'magnificent pop genius'.
Support band The Big Moon have a tough task ahead of them tonight, opening for the mighty Ezra Furman. However, this sassy female quartet quickly win the crowd over with their crunchy, melodic pop, all nagging guitar hooks and angular drumming. Their cover of Madonna's Beautiful Stranger is a welcome makeover of one of Madge's worst, and their bonhomie is infectious, and unabashed 60s harmonies rather glorious. Loud and quiet contrasts sound very much inspired all over again. Sun-dappled festival headlining surely awaits.
Ezra Furman
Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
He's a naughty tom cat, that kid from Chicago. It takes an audacious singer to start with The Velvet Underground's classic Rock 'n' Roll and encore with Arcade Fire's Crown of Love but Ezra Furman, and wonderful backing band in thrift store chic The Boyfriends, have the musical chops to carry it off--and then some.
As he sashays on in retro print mini-dress and trademark pearls, sporting blue hair dye, I am reminded of film director Todd Haynes' assertion when making Velvet Goldmine that he could "turn straight people gay and gay people straight.” (Instead, we got Ewan McGregor playing an Iggy Pop type with a dodgy Transatlantic accent...I didn't know Iggy was from Crieff.)
But tonight, it seems a few straight men could be tempted. Androgyny in pop has always been sexy—from Grace Jones to David Bowie. Furman oozes charisma and feline androgynous sex appeal, playfully seducing the entire room with witty one-liners and clowning. His vocals are a cross between Lou Reed, Violent Femmes' Gordon Ganno and Television's Tom Verlaine, bratty and full of attitude. There is nothing, but nothing, cooler than this. Speaking of “absolute transcendence,” his remit is to open a few minds to gender fluidity and queer culture, and speak for the marginalised and oppressed in society.
The dirty rockabilly rhythms of American Soil give way to raw, confessional songs like The Mall where he metaphorically seems to lift up the skirts of the 50s 'bobbysoxer' girls and expose the American Dream for what he sees it as—pure hypocrisy. Meanwhile, I Wanna Destroy Myself and Tell 'Em All to Go To Hell are pure defiant punk rock, with skronking saxophone The Stooges would be proud of. My Zero is pop euphoria, complete with Furman playing chiming Bowie Hunky Dory-era guitar.
But even if his many influences are apparent, there is nothing else around at the moment which sounds quite like him. He's just Ezra—the perfect indie pop icon for our times. It never falls into mimicry—his songwriting is too wry, too astute, too imaginative with melodies too sharp to resist, and quirky keyboard squiggles, or eccentric backing vocal tics. He can scream like a feral kitten or croon like a soul balladeer. A doo-wop song about changing the American system from the outside? Check, with Lousy Connection. African-inflected pop? Check, with Restless Year. A hip-swinging plea for complete sexual liberation? Check, with Body Was Made.
Resistance is futile, in the face of such magnificent pop genius. Tonight, I fell a bit in love with him, and I know I'm not alone there. Good for what ails ya.
Reviewed at Glasgow School of Art, November 17th 2015.
Ezra Furman tours internationally until March.
www.ezrafurman.com
Ezra Furman - Restless Year [Official Music Video]: http://youtu.be/NDOenFQazrA
RSS