| Furr | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Blitzen Trapper |
| Cover: | Furr.jpg |
| Released: | September 23, 2008 |
| Genre: | Alternative country |
| Length: | 39:05 |
| Label: | Sub Pop |
| Prev Title: | Wild Mountain Nation |
| Prev Year: | 2007 |
| Next Title: | Black River Killer |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
Furr, released in 2008, is the fourth album by Blitzen Trapper. The album was listed at #13 on Rolling Stones 50 Best Albums of 2008,[1] and the title track made #4 on Rolling Stones 100 Best Singles of 2008.[2] Music videos were made for the album's two singles, "Furr" and "Black River Killer".
Robin Pecknold of the band Fleet Foxes responded to the track, "Lady On the Water" enthusiastically: "it's a beautiful and woozy folk song. Eric Earley is a supergenius and it's so wonderful to hear folk music that's not just 'folk' because of the quaint acoustic instruments as is sometimes the case these days. I think a proper folk song needs to be instructive and entertaining, in the sense that the melody has its own captivating logic, I think a good folk song is like a machine, all elements perfectly calibrated, and this song is the Large Hadron Collider, smashing things together to get to the bottom of the universe."[3]
On September 14, 2018, Sub Pop released a 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Furr[4] with an extra disc of bonus tracks recorded around the time of the 2008 Furr session and tour. Two were live radio recordings of songs from the original Furr album. Three tracks, “War and Placebo,” “Booksmart Baby” and “Maybe Baby,” came from previous Record Store Day singles. Seven others had never been publicly released.[5] This extended edition's booklet included an interview with Eric Earley conducted by actor Rainn Wilson. [6]
All songs written by Eric Earley
Critical response to the album was overwhelmingly favorable. Rolling Stone gave Furr four-out-of-five stars and called it "an engaging album full of rootsy beauty." Billboard found it to be "a perfect fall soundtrack rife with woodsy imagery."[7] Entertainment Weekly, in an article recommending what to exchange unwanted Christmas gifts for, said the album was "part harmony-laden tambourine jangle, part British Invasion guitar charm, and fully worth braving brutal return lines at the mall."[8]