Ezra Furman “Twelve Nudes”

It’s great to have an artist who is as productive as Ezra Furman. It doesn’t seem like five minutes since we were reviewing his last album, Transangelic Exodus. Thankfully, there is never a risk of quantity over quality as he always delivers intriguing and exciting work.

The opening track is called “Calm Down aka I should not be alone” and it’s far from calm and is one of his most punky songs (albeit sugared with some Stones esque woohoos). The dominant feel from this album is a far more buoyant sound compared to the last release. Tracks like “Evening Prayer aka Justice” and “In America” see a return to the almost power pop feel of some of the tracks off his earlier album Perpetual Motion People . We’d go as far as to suggest an almost Tom Petty feel to the wide landscape sound of “Transition From Nowhere To Nowhere”

That’s not to say there isn’t still a feel for the off kilter with his sound, as perfectly demonstrated by the intense “Rated R Crusaders”. Whilst “Trauma” has a crunching guitar line that Jack White would be proud of and the lyrics are spat out. His gift for songs with intriguing, and important, lyrical content is still there on tracks like “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend”.

But overall there is a more joyous feel to this album and you’ll find it hard to resist the perfect indie pop of tracks like “Thermometer” and “My Teeth Hurt”. Songs like this seem perfect to being blasted out on BBC 6 music or in indie discos (do they still exist?!?).

In many ways this album seems far more in line with the Ezra Furman who first captured our heart at a small gig in Birmingham. It’s a shiny and catchy collection of songs that are capable of delighting and puzzling you at the same time. Quite possibly his best release to date, which is saying something!