Release Date: Aug 26, 2022
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Anti-
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy All of Us Flames from Amazon
In its pleas for solidarity and acceptance, one of the year’s best albums is also one of the most important and vital It’s an accidental trilogy, but a trilogy none the less. Back in 2018, Ezra Furman released Transangelic Exodus, an extraordinary, loose ‘concept album’ about a supernatural queer couple on the run from the law. That was followed a year later by Twelve Nudes, a squalling, short punk rock record, which was, to all intents, a protest album about trans rights.
Ezra Furman has seemingly spent her last two albums in constant motion. She first traced a collection of Springsteen-esque stories of escape and romance songs with 2018's Transangelic Exodus, then quickly offered up an incendiary punk paen to rage and fury with 2019's Twelve Nudes. Her songs have often felt restless and nervy, finding her searching for peace and comfort amidst a hostile world that doesn't want Furman or the people she loves to exist.
Ezra Furman has always – in essence – been a punk rock performer. Strident, confrontational, and inspiring, she's forever walked her own path , inviting the rest to follow. 'All Of Us Flames' may not sound punk, but it retains her defiantly original ethos – bold, profoundly honest, and deeply insightful, this is an inspired return, one that might rank as her finest, most complete record to date.
is available now