All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Tiny Mix Tapes

The Fiery Furnaces have delivered another great American novel via guitars, drums, bells, and whistles.

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100

Alternative Press

As exhausting as it is brilliant. [Dec 2005, p.202]

Spin

Whether Eleanor echoes her grandmother or provides a less mature counterpoint, her gravity melds with Sarantos' gusto for a dissonance that's never entirely discordant. [Nov 2005, p.100]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

The flickering narrative works to pull ears closer to the band's most wowing musical offering to date.

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The Guardian

An astonishing concept-album full of humour, tenderness and life-affirming spirit.

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Uncut

If last year's engrossing, infuriating Blueberry Boat revealed the Friedbergers as a uniquely strange and perversely ambitious proposition, Rehearsing My Choir, remarkably, trumps it, striking a chord of real feeling alongside the pell-mell fabulation. [Dec 2005, p.110]

Mojo

As unique and poignant as a family bible. [Nov 2005, p.104]

All Music Guide

The album cements the band as a love-them-or-hate-them proposition, but the Fiery Furnaces remain true to themselves.

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Neumu.net

My feeling is that Rehearsing My Choir is an odd, initially indigestible album that is far more interesting than most people are willing to admit.

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Q Magazine

The twosome's sincere kitchen-sink music and lyrical pathos mean the tales of Chicago life unravel like a good Paul Auster novel. [Dec 2005, p.150]

Paste Magazine

Imaging you're listening to a radio play and let the story engage you, and you might find yourself hooked. [Dec 2005, p.108]

Rolling Stone

These prose-stuffed metasongs require concentrated listening. But the rewards are rich, the experience unique.

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Under The Radar

The album is no less a triumph as it is a fantastic future family heirloom. That said, Rehearsing might test the patience of even longtime fans. [#11, p.106]

Blender

Not for all--or even most--tastes, the result is abrasive and weirdly haunting. [Nov 2005, p.135]

ShakingThrough.net

Rehearsing My Choir is too self-consciously hip to be a twilight reflection on things past and is filled with personal asides only blood relatives can relate to.

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Billboard

Think of a visit to Nana's house reimagined as alt-Broadway musical theater. [29 Oct 2005]

Los Angeles Times

There might be a compelling story in there, but when the Furnaces' songs come in to elaborate on her tales... it's all but impossible to figure out what's going on. [6 Nov 2005]

Entertainment Weekly

[The Grandmother's] spoken-word soliloquies only deepen Choir's too-clever-for-its-own-good impenetrability. [28 Oct 2005, p.89]

Stylus Magazine

Admittedly, though it’s clunky and overwrought, the real problem isn’t that the story is tedious or that Olga’s voice is awful--it’s actually weirdly thrilling--it’s that the album simply doesn’t feel as well executed as the premise promises.

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Pitchfork

As a think piece, Rehearsing My Choir is enormously engaging, but as a pop record, it's exhausting and fruitless.

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Prefix Magazine

Thrilling prospect though it may be, the result is a disaster.

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Austin Chronicle

It's tedious where there should be tension.

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cokemachineglow

The problem this time out isn’t a lack of interesting material, it’s that these aren’t lyrics, these aren’t songs, these are for the most part spoken word stories backed by some of the most horrific and baroque music ever recorded.

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PopMatters

The first and possibly most damaging problem lies in the music, which lacks the focus, coherence, and development to be rewarding beyond a novelty listen.

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Magnet

On Rehearsing My Choir, the Furnaces are just defiant because they can be, indulging every impulse but neglecting to make any of them even remotely compelling. [#70, p.96]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 130 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Paul gave it a7:
A unique album, worked out better than i expected it to be but overall their least best record.

Glenn D gave it a5:
It's all great fun, especially very funny on first listen, but musically it can be pretty trying. It just doesn't leave a lasting impression.

Spencer M gave it a10:
Critics hated it for not being a pop record; a record they wanted. But it's not supposed to be, you idiots! Who would ever do a pop record with their 83 year-old grandmother?? Nobody has, and nither have the Furnaces. This album is more of a radio show, a theatrically-whimsy and changing-as-is-life collection of sounds that tell the story of Olga Sarantos, the Furnaces' grandma. It's brilliant and if you don't like it not because you don't like Furnaces' style, but because it's too "out there" or "too far", then you're missing out.

Sean T gave it an8:
it gets a 10 for ingenuity and a 6 for listenability but then again this music is not meant to really enjoy but more so to study and yes there is a place in music for study despite all the people who just like music for dancing.

DrGoob gave it an8:
I was ready to hate this album - it sounds like a horrible concept. But I love it. I have no idea why it has been called 'horrific' 'a disaster' 'exhausting and fruitless' and so on by so many critics. It just isn't. There is so much to like here. Olga's rough voice contrasts wonderfully with Eleanor's sweat tones, and their exchanges are used well in conveying a story (the best example being 'The Wayward Granddaughter'). The lyrics are often extremely rewarding - 'Seven Silver Curses' is an excellent example, as is 'Guns Under The Counter', which is brilliantly surreal. The music is admittedly difficult, but not unrewarding. I especially enjoy the sudden transitions - they often catch you by surprise, which I find incredibly compelling as you're never entirely sure where the song will go next. On the whole this is a very rewarding album.

Jeff K gave it a10:
This is quite simply the best album of the year. Sure, it's a tad off-putting at first, but the Furnaces have always followed their muse, even into strange territory. But once you get past the initial strangeness of the music, you will be rewarded with one of the most complex and beautiful albums you've ever heard.

Kristoffer gave it an8:
Strangely haunting and very off-limits as far as pop music is concerned. I like.

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