Furslide

Jennifer Turner (guitars, vocals)
Jason Lader (bass guitar)
Adam MacDougall (drums)

“I’m learning peace but I know I’ll let it go For the thrill and wonder of adventure” — “Hawaii” Looking for imaginative and haunting rock? Dreamy and seductive one moment, jagged and caustic the next? Slip into Adventure, the debut album by New York’s Furslide and the first release on Nellee Hooper’s new label, Meanwhile…, through Virgin.

Adventure is a place where psychedelicized, bluesy guitars; deft rhythmic shifts; airy soundscapes; and deeply probing lyrics sung through firmly grit teeth come together. “I proudly wear the scars/I’ve challenged every crutch so far,” intones singer/songwriter/guitarist Jennifer Turner on “Over My Head,” the LP’s opening song, and this is one fiercely independent and evocative artist who doesn’t let you go. Not for a second. And against the guitar explosions in the album’s first single, “Skinny Girl,” Turner takes the listener on a guided tour of someone’s private hell — “I’m covered with choices/It’s not becoming/This way or that way/I can’t decide/I’ve got a name/It’s all I know”– with eye-opening detail.

Adventure certainly isn’t the album you’d immediately expect from a band featuring the former guitarist for Natalie Merchant and produced by acclaimed producer/remixer Nellee Hooper. As lead guitarist on Merchant’s Tigerlily album and tour, Furslide’s Jennifer Turner awed critics with her “silky, spacious blues chords” and “airy… soaring” solos. Likewise, Hooper has won plaudits for his groundbreaking work with U2, Massive Attack, Madonna, Bjork, Garbage and The Smashing Pumpkins, among others. One would think that a collaboration between these restless muses would result in a record completely awash in trip-hop grooves and endless guitar heroics. Think again.

Adventure unfolds more like an epic song cycle, where each track segues seamlessly into the next. From the propulsive rhythm of “Bring You Down” to the neo-classical dreamscapes of “Hawaii” to the soft-and-hard “One Hit Downer,” Adventure combines the aggression of rock ‘n’ roll with the tunefulness of pop. Turner’s fluent guitar is matched by her expressive vocals and distinctive phrasings, while drummer Adam MacDougall and bassist Jason Lader provide commanding, yet graceful rock rhythms.

The pieces of the Furslide puzzle began fitting together in 1997, after Hooper witnessed a typically electrifying Los Angeles performance. Though the band had only been together a little over three months, they had already created a bi-coastal buzz too loud for the music industry to ignore. Major label interest ensued, with Hooper’s Meanwhile… emerging victorious. Turner says the choice was based solely on creative concerns. “It wouldn’t have been difficult for us to make a record on our own in America, with an established label and ‘rock’ producer,” the singer/guitarist says. “But it was the idea of an exploration that led us to working with Nellee in the U.K.” That experimental spirit animates all 13 tracks on Adventure, whether it’s the hypnotic grooves of “Shallow,” or the engaging string orchestrations of both “Faith” (supervised by Grammy winner Anne Dudley of Art Of Noise) and “Hawaii” (arranged by Craig Armstrong who has worked with Massive Attack and recorded at Abbey Road).

Lyrically, the album provides an often unsettling glimpse into the mind of Jennifer Turner. “Shallow” attacks our culture’s fascination with glossy surfaces and Turner bitingly declares, “I’m so much you’ll never see/So much more you’ll never be.” “The song ‘Over My Head’ says all the things that need to be said by Furslide,” Lader says. “It highlights Jen’s voice, and it has some crazy guitar, and it has some dreamy sounds. It has all the elements. It’s not the most poppy single, but it’s the one that captures what we’re about. If someone said, ‘What do you guys sound like?’, I would pick that.”

Furslide’s diverse, eclectic musical sound can be attributed to the band’s far-reaching musical roots. Jason and Adam had known each other since they played together at Manhattan’s High School Of Music & Art. After graduating they formed a band called Marmalade, a funk band inspired equally by Parliament and Pink Floyd. The line-up would fluctuate between 10 and 15 members, and gigs sometimes lasted 30 minutes and featured one jam-intensive song. Marmalade were not a commercial proposition, and even the addition of Turner — who, after four years of trans-American hitchhiking, landed in Greenwich Village — failed to add much focus to the band’s sound. The trio edged away from the Marmalade collective, and began writing and demo-ing in New York. On March 2, 1997 they decided they could do it on their own. By March 8 they played their first gig. Dubbing themselves Dirty Sharon, the band performed to a packed room. One name change and two gigs later, they were off.

The first song they composed was called “Today Forever,” and it would become the blueprint for the band’s future experiments. Why? “Because it was loud as fuck, playing as hard as we could, some crazy shit, one song laid over another,” MacDougall says. Admittedly excited with being the first act on Meanwhile…, Furslide holed up in London’s Metropolis, Olympic and Abbey Road studios and set about creating the album of their dreams. In producer Nellee Hooper they found a kindred spirit who was similarly intent on creating gripping, engaging sounds. Says Hooper: “The idea was to try new things and come up with some versatile sounds that related to Furslide’s eclectic musical influences. They wanted to experiment, and so did I. That was our creative spark. I was also attracted to the depth, quality and identity of the songwriting.” “Nellee brought to the equation a completely new matrix of ideas to wade through,” offers Jennifer. “Any direction seemed possible. It was a learning experience for all of us. Nellee is a vibes person. That’s perfect for us. He’s innovative, rather than commercial. Nellee wasn’t just looking for hits — he wanted to make an interesting record.”

Adventure is the “interesting record” the band hoped for.

Oh, and about the name. The band says Furslide is their own scientific coinage. “The way to look at it is to think of a science textbook,” says Lader. “In it there’s a scientist holding a large rubber rod and a piece of fur. And the caption says: ‘Slide the fur along the rubber rod to produce electrons.’” “So we’re more to do with electricity than general perviness,” says Turner. “I swear, mom — honest!”