Ezra Furman- ‘I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend’ & ‘Evening Prayer’
Dreams really do come true and when we wish upon a star it beams down to us in the shape of Ezra Furman and we are offered not just one, but two new singles. Shared from his cult-ly anticipated fifth album Twelve Nudes that’s due for release on August 30th (Bella Union), these tracks are exactly what we need to brace ourselves for August’s frenzied end of summer panicked blues.
Furman has a relentless gift for scooping up all the wonky veg of the world. He gathers all the clustered misfits and the politics of love, the layers of gender and sexuality, the un said-s and the un speak-ables quite seemingly everything and anything there is to being frickin’ human, and then turns it all into the greatest meal of literary realness and manifested complexities imaginable.
First up is Evening Prayer a deliciously punk power anthem that has a nuclear drive to paint streaks of spirited rebellion over all societal callousness and hatred like no other. Like, truly un-like any other. ‘The kids are just getting started. They’ve only just learnt how to howl’. When Furman cries rally so does the world around him. His internalised transcendence cries, the ‘fire in his bloodstream’ cries, even the accompanying guitar is crying out strummed riffs of the most persistent carnal crazed energy. Put simply, this is a track to get you in the mood to spark for good and it works.
On I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend Furman says: “This is a romantic song of transgender longing”. It’s 50s style ‘do-wop’ with an undeniably modern day, restraint free (but full of restraint vocals nonetheless) attitude that scratches conversations of itchy ironies and talks of longed companionship. A High School Prom of swoon induced tempos complete with a disco ball of insecurities that loom unescapably over each and every one of our heads as we try and make the best of things, this track is surely Ezra Furman. Melancholic marvel? Check. Endless relatability and crushed masculinity? Check A broken society waiting to be personalised and then presented louder through the use of screams and then some? It’s all there ready and waiting to be utilised to at its fullest.
Bring on August 30th- Ezra Furman’s army of empowered are waiting for ya.
Words by Al Mills