Check out Ezra Furman
Announces
New Tour Dates Including Bowery Ballroom In February
Perpetual Motion People LP Out
Now On Bella Union
Ezra Furman US
Tour Dates:
12/1-Seattle,WA-Tractor
Tavern*
12/2-Portland,OR-Mississippi
Studios*
12/3
Arcata, CA - Richard's Goat*
12/6-San
Francisco,CA-Rickshaw Stop*
12/8-San Diego,CA-The
Casbah*
12/9 Los Angeles, CA - The
Echo*
2/9
Washington DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
2/10
New York, NY - The Bowery
*
w / Guy Blakeslee
Following the release of his standout LP Perpetual
Motion People on Bella Union, Ezra Furman has shared the playful video for 'Body Was Made' on Noisey.
The video sees an all-star cast featuring members of Bella Union label-mates Landshapes as well as members of Peggy
Sue performing in a sort of bizarro-reality musical contest that's brimming
with humor and sass. Director Anika Mottershaw notes: "We
wanted the video to feel goofy and fun. It was fun making it with our friends,
and we hope that comes across." This invented scenario accomplishes these
aims, all the while beautifully addressing the themes of bodies and identity
that Furman so poignantly raises up in his lyrics. As Ezra explains himself: "Body Was Made is a protest song against the
people and forces that would make me ashamed of my body, my gender and my
sexuality. Its a declaration of freedom from false authority and self-appointed
social police who have given me grief all my life."
Perpetual Motion People, delivers a cascade of memorably bristling hooks driven by a unique
splicing of timeless influences, delivered with a restless urgency and
combative spirit that shines through the American's vocals and lyrics. Having
taken his time to work his way into the public consciousness, Furman's time
is unquestionably now, as he finally faces an expectant audience hungry for the
next stage of his thrilling approach, on record and on stage.
The album was recorded with Furman's current
band The Boyfriends - comprising Jorgen Jorgensen (bass), Ben
Joseph (keyboards, guitar), Sam Durkes (drums) and
saxophonist Tim Sandusky – and recorded at Sandusky's studio Ballistico in
Furman's home city of Chicago (he's currently
based in San Francisco). Sandusky also recorded Furman's last
two albums, The Year of No Returning and Day Of The Dog.
"Tim completely understands what is, or could be, good about my songs, and
how to make a record," says Furman. "Each album we make together,
we're really getting somewhere."
Perpetual Motion People kicks off with 'Restless Year', about which Consequence Of
Sound described as, "a ball of energy, bouncing around
genre borders with glee. There's the rebellion of '90s indie rock, a
string of sunshine-y '80s pop, and the snarl of '70s punk."
"The opening lines of my records tend to
be summary statements," says Furman. "Every year has been
restless, physically and even more internally." Hence the title Perpetual
Motion People, "That's who it was made by and that's who it's for.
People who feel they can never settle. I'm restless in most aspects. I don't
tend to live in one place for long. I am always changing the way I present my
gender. My religious life is intensely up and down in terms of observance and
personal convictions. I've always viewed the idea of truth itself as something
wobbly, always slipping out of our grasp. That's what the songs are about: a
head that is haunted, a society I cannot join, a lover who is perpetually in
the act of leaving. A central idea is the fugitive or runaway, in a hideout
built in the midst of an unfriendly or alienated world.
Though reluctant to single out tracks, given
they're all equally loved, Furman admits that 'Ordinary Life' "is a
concept I've been trying to get out for a long time." He cites transgender
American author, playwright, performance artist and gender theorist Kate
Bornstein: "She's struggled a lot with depression and suicidal
thoughts, she said, "Do anything you have to do to make your life worth
living, break the law, run away from home, destroy your possessions; just don't
be mean to people". I meet a lot of fans in need, and in pain. I feel
desperate a lot too - desperate to shake people by the shoulders and try to
explain something, I'm just not sure what."
So it goes for Perpetual Motion People, besides
the category of Great Albums of 2015, with its equal doses of desperation and
joie de vivre, irresistible melody and boundless energy. Ultimately, Furman declares,
life in perpetual motion is, "a good way to be. If you are never sure
footing, you don't get bored and the world is always new. It causes a lot of
pain as well, but it seems worth it, and it is probably the only way I know how
to be."
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