Remember

iTunes Review

Two cultural touchstones come to mind when confronted with this 51-track set of live performances by indie-pop’s definitive, theatrically inclined, brother-sister duo. One is a double-stuffed Oreo. (Is it too much? Or is it an indulgent, super yummy treat?) The second is the artful, cut-up/collage methods of wordsmiths Brion Gysin and William Burroughs, where an impossibly varied pastiche of expression locks together like pieces of a puzzle, to be interpreted (and certainly filtered) by the reader, or in this case the listener, who, after all, is only outfitted with two ears. More often than not, these live tracks have less to do with the original versions than they do with the goal of continuing the creative process, and the challenge is to hear the songs with a fresh perspective and a wide-open mind. Some of your favorite FF songs may sound unfamiliar: compacted, expanded, truncated, reborn and re-imagined from both a musical and lyrical standpoint. The tracks on Remember constitute a bold step in the Furnaces’ career, challenging their fans in much the same way as their early releases did. This ain’t your Uncle Steve’s indie rock. (A word of advice: Consume slowly, in small amounts.)