Ezra Furman returns with
Perpetual Motion People, her third solo LP and first for British indie
Bella Union. Since disbanding her former group the
Harpoons in 2011,
Furman has worked in an array of mediums, from the edgy, introspective folk-pop of 2012's solo debut
The Year of No Returning to the nervy, '50s-tinged punk of follow-up
Day of the Dog. On her third outing, the simmering stew of influences that has followed her around (
the Modern Lovers,
Velvet Underground,
Violent Femmes, etc.) whirl together in a blur of color as she finally goes off the deep end in the best of ways. With an almost manic energy and a rush of invention, she dials up the melodies, hooks, and rhythms, and shines her weird creativity full-bore on a set of songs that ripple with excitement, danger, and fun. Backed by
the Boyfriends, whose sax player
Tim Sandusky is also producer here,
Furman finally embraces and fully celebrates her perpetual outsider status, turning it into something desirable and bold. In a snarl falling somewhere between
Gordon Gano,
Dan Bejar, and
John Lennon, she delivers lines like "Makin' the rounds in my five dollar dress, I can't go home though I'm not homeless, I'm just another savage in the wilderness, and if you can't calm down you can listen to this" from the marvelously spiky opener "Restless Year." Donning a dress, lipstick, and a baseball cap on the album's cover, she plays on gender fluidity, anxiety, sin, and any manner of self-expression that seems to dart through her brain, turning songs like "Hark! To the Music" and "Body Was Made" into rallying cries for misfits of any ilk. Musically, the album's most common thread is classic doo wop, with plenty of sock hop sax solos and at least half of the songs sporting some sort of "ooh la," "sha-lang," or "shoo-doo" to offset
Furman's brazen barks. The whole album feels like a journey through her emotional chaos, and fittingly, she provides a hand-drawn map of Chicago in the liner notes assigning a Windy City street address to each song, like a cathartic field guide to their place of origin. If you're willing to get on board with
Ezra Furman and the beautifully messy world that she celebrates here,
Perpetual Motion People is a ride worth taking. ~ Timothy Monger
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