Ezra Furman Talks About His Solo Debut

Ezra Furman isn’t as afraid as he once was.

During a phone call while he walked through the hills of San Francisco, he revealed, “I looked more into myself; I looked deep into me and didn’t turn back in terms of inspection. I realized I’m not going to embarrass myself by going all out.”

The Year of No Returning, which is set for a Feb. 7 release, was officially conceived when he moved into a new house in late 2010, but its roots date further back, according to Furman: “I’m always writing songs and I’m already writing more than I need. Some of it I wrote four or five years ago. Most of it is rather recent. The moment I got the idea that I could write this solo album with this certain mature kind of rebellion to it was right when I moved into [the house]. That’s when I thought I needed to make a record a different way than I had in the past.”

In terms of realization, this album contains a considerable amount of it. The album’s title refers to Furman taking a new approach in life. He likened himself to a cigarette dropped in the street: some people will ignore it, but others might pick it up and put it in a proper place. He used to care, but now he understands that he was sick of feeling he had to make music for an audience.

The entire album is filled with moments of Furman trying to discover exactly who he is. “I think I cared a little more. I noticed that as time goes on I care more about the details.” He experimented on particular songs because he had the time. On “Sinking Slow” he explains that there was a moment when a group of musicians walked around a microphone in a circle playing detuned guitars with cello bows just to make unique sounds. Every song was carefully crafted because it was the most time he ever had in a studio.

“I did it right in the attic I was living in. I would go up and put in some hours. It wasn’t like we bought all this time in a studio for this day and had to go on all cylinders. If something stopped working I would just go hang out with somebody.”

His patience paid off. “All of the moments on the album culminate in that last song which has a note of hope, of like, ‘I’m not afraid, I’m not self-pitying.’ It takes the positivity out of all the negativity that comes before it.”

Furman feels that there will be people who appreciate the perspective he put forward on the album, but also noted that a lot of the good songs don’t get recognition anymore because people don’t want to dig for gems. He figures his songs will find a home on a mix CD given from one friend to another.

And he’s okay with that because this album expresses his feelings better than he ever has with songs like “Down” that he says, “about listening to music too much and about crushing yourself into a tiny little atom.”

Now that he has wrapped up the lengthy writing and recording process, Furman isn’t quite sure what will happen next. He knows there will be a tour in support of the album and that the majority of gigs will take place in April. There’s possibility that a Harpoon might tour with him and that some musicians from the album will most likely join him as well, but he isn’t quite sure. He repeated, “A cigarette dropped on the street doesn’t have a plan.”

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