9. The Fiery Furnaces – Bitter Tea
Why was this a shock to anyone? I had to put something that wasn’t from 1974 in my list! I really could have picked any Fiery Furnaces album… I came across the Fiery Furnaces when my daughter, who must have been about 13 at the time found ‘Ex-Guru’ and said to me: "This is up your street Dad, listen to this". And she was absolutely right; I immediately devoured their entire back catalogue.
With this, I love how the lyrics seem really mundane but are somehow very charming; it goes from being a bit of a racket to being fantastically beautiful. And this is the one with the backwards masking, and I like anything with a bit of backwards masking. I have met Eleanor [Friedberger], but I didn’t tell her I was a fan. I’m awful. That’s why I don’t like meeting people; either I disappoint them, or they disappoint me.
