Ezra Furman / Transangelic Exodus


When I saw Ezra Furman in the last Primavera Sound, transvestite, wearing an ostentatious pearl necklace, I thought it had to be too big to wear such a cheesy and out-of-date accessory as that and that would fit him well. Then he versioned 'Hounds of Love' and I reflected on the amount of talent needed to make one of Kate Bush's most famous songs yours. Something similar happens to me with his recordings; that feeling that Furman appropriates a lot of artists he likes, takes them to his field, swallows them and gives a result in which his personality remains above all, despite making his loans so evident.

If on his previous album, 'Perpetual Motion People', Ezra played to be a star of the lavish pop of the 60s, this time taking the focus to the 80s and 90s, raises a little histrionism, unleashes the imagery and catapults to Paradise. Transangelic Exodus' is better, but infinitely better, than its predecessor. As if it were a road movie (doesn't the cover look like a movie poster?), Ezra narrates his escape with his lover from a hostile environment. The album is dedicated to immigrants, to refugees, to those forcibly locked up in closets; to all those vulnerable beings, wounded and persecuted by society and seeking a better world. In fact, as you dig through the lyrics in Genius, you find an overwhelming amount of information about the cinematic nature and all the meanings of the songs. But the content isn't much use if the continent doesn't shake you up. And the continent is overwhelming; melodramatic pop with little drama but a lot of contagious euphoria. The one that emanates Ezra, with her powerful voice, elastic, slightly nasal, slightly raspy, dominating everything.
fou teenager, she goes and finishes it off with some "wah-wah-wah" and the strings unleashed in ascending speed until the end. Maybe my favorite song so far this year; glorious pop at cinemascope. The only reminders to the 60's, 'I Lost My Innocence' and 'Psalm 51', with clear theft of the Beatles' 'She Said, She Said' and inflections by Father John Misty, do not emerge until the end.
Ezra Furman is a fascinating character who in his new film presents himself as a fugitive. But what he really is is a white-collar thief, one of those who plan a prodigious coup and get an exuberant reward. But we're the ones who are really graced.

Rating: 8,2/10
The best: 'Suck the Blood of My Wound', 'Driving Down to LA', 'Gods Lift up the Lowly', 'No Place', 'Love You so Bad'
You'll like it if you like: melodramatic pop, from Suede to Triffids, through Nick Cave and Kate Bush.
Listen: Spotify

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