Initially intended to be the companion piece to their 2005 epic
Rehearsing My Choir -- aka "the grandmother album" --
the Fiery Furnaces'
Bitter Tea arrived half a year later and on a new label for the band, Fat Possum (where, presumably, the Friedbergers will keep company with
the Black Keys as the blues imprint's fledgling indie rock colony). Conceived as a more youthful album of lovelorn songs to go along with
Choir's voice of maturity,
Bitter Tea is slightly less complicated than its would-be companion album; in fact, it features some of the band's catchiest songs since
EP. "I'm Waiting to Know You" turns a moony, '50s-style ballad into slow-dance synth pop, while "Police Sweater Blood Vow" is warm, playful, and even a little sexy, and as straightforward as any song with "Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep" as part of its chorus can be. However, this is a
Fiery Furnaces album, and lest things get too poppy, some of
Bitter Tea's best songs are shot through with lengthy passages of burbling synths. Both "Benton Harbor Blues," which features gorgeous vocals, a Motown-inspired bassline, and emotional but not overly sentimental lyrics, and "Teach Me Sweetheart," which could easily be a yearning power ballad along the lines of
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps" in the hands of a more commercially minded band, both feel like thwarted pop singles.