i really want to like the new fiery furnaces album, blueberry boat more, and yet i think a desire to separate themselves from the "the" pack has yielded too much of a (pretty) good thing -- thank goodness for the liberating power of sound editing programs. certainly, no one will mistake this for the white stripes, even if jack did add piano to their palette on elephant. indeed, what i mistake it for is the first two springsteen albums (because, at 76+ minutes, it's nearly as long as those two combined) translated into -- and i hesitate to use this word because i might be called upon to define the term and, as it is, when i use the word it's something of an inchoate concept... but, okay. PROG.

or even smiley smile, that is it possesses a goofy kind of charm and a mutated eclecticism, but that it also begs the question of what might have been.

or maybe it's just the magnolia of new york-based rock. make of that what you will.