Two years after the alt-retro ramalama rumpus of Perpetual Motion People<\/i>, Chicago\u2019s Ezra Furman wanted to make something \u201cmore original\u201d for his next album. Consider the job done, in style.<\/p>\n
Though he was never some callow copycat anyway, Furman\u2019s self-styled \u201cqueer outlaw saga\u201d targets new frontiers in US road music: between its blistering hooks and bristling sounds, …Exodus <\/i>sets out for fresh horizons with a full tank of passion, purpose, political rage, raucous invention and rock\u2019n\u2019roll fire.<\/p>\n
True, classic-rock touchstones emerge, including Bruce Springsteen (gutsy opener Suck The Blood From My Wound), Jonathan Richman (fuzz-rock rumble No Place) and The Velvet Underground (Peel My Orange Every Morning). But Furman deploys strafing digi-noises, jarring mood-shifts and full-blooded story-song instincts to forge his off-the-grid \u2013 yet bitingly relevant \u2013 American fable, where illegal angels outrun nefarious government forces.<\/p>\n
Whether he sings about leaving home (cowboy lament Driving Down To LA), Jewishness (Psalm 151) or teen lust (bawdy showtune I Lost My Innocence), Furman\u2019s stories erupt in sunbursts of detail, lived-in and lividly imagined.<\/p>\n
Voice serrated, Furman braids each tale with ragged sonic dramatics, with scrambled arrangements jittering over rhythms that bustle like escapees from Tom Waits\u2019 junkyard. High points include burlesque blues-grinder Come Here Get Away From Me and doo wop\u2019n\u2019roll cello-thruster Love You So Bad, but every pit-stop on Furman\u2019s wild ride rewards attention. \u201cGoddamnit, I\u2019m alive,\u201d he sings, thrillingly exultant in his flight from conformity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two years after the alt-retro ramalama rumpus of Perpetual Motion People, Chicago\u2019s Ezra Furman wanted to make something \u201cmore original\u201d for his next album. Consider the job done, in style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"issue":[10093],"class_list":["post-193415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album","category-reviews","issue-january-2018"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n