The first thing that hits you while listening to Ezra Furman’s startling new record is a stirring sense of urgency that is sorely lacking in most modern music.
All of Us Flames is Furman’s sixth solo album, which she describes as a collection of songs for threatened communities, specifically referring to her trans and Jewish identities. The title is lifted from the second book of the Torah.
In 2018 Furman released a record entitled Transangelic Exodus, the first chapter of a trilogy that saw her flee from an oppressive government in the company of an angel. She concludes this series with the release of All of us Flames. On lead single Forever in Sunset her opening gambit recalls a confessional lyric by Amy Winehouse on You Know I’m No Good: “I told you on the phone, I told you I was trouble, man.”
The music then does its own thing, purveying a kind of warped psychedelic epic rock that bristles with passion, frustration, anger and love. Lilac and Black has echoes of Springsteen. A quote on her press release nails it: “They think the world is ending. But people who have been through a personal apocalypse or two have something to teach them.”
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Furman rounds off her trilogy with these defiant songs of hope and inclusion. All of us Flames is a landmark album from a brave and brilliant artist shedding some light on these times.
