He's grown-up like Lou Reed. Androgynous like Bowie. Lyrical like Springsteen. Offbeat like Jonathan Richman. And an exhibitionist like Rufus Wainwright. But this time, for his seventh album, Ezra Furman is, first and foremost, more Ezra Furman than ever before! In a fascinating confessional record, halfway between concept-album and fictional biography, he blurs the contours of his bisexuality and shows himself to be as flamboyant as his idols. Furman decks out his glitzy songs with a cocky, bituminous glam, putting exuberance front-and-centre. That doesn't stop him from also opting for more intimate, stripped-down numbers as well.
But if all that is working at 200%, the reason is that Transangelic Exodus is above all a collection of great songs. Behind the impressive decor and the stylistic conjuring tricks, Ezra Furman has brought out one of his most incisive works to date. Full of insights about himself, and on Trump's America, where he is trying to find his place. Fascinated by the pop songs and Jewish tradition, the thirtysomething Chicagoan might just have dropped one of 2018's most powerful rock records...© MZ/Qobuz