Photo by Jason Simmons

On February 9th, Ezra Furman returns with a new album, Transangelic Exodus. His second full-length for Bella Union follows 2015’s Perpetual Motion People and marks a sea change for the singer-songwriter.

“2016 was a hard year,” Furman notes in a statement. “While the political and cultural conversation devolved in a very threatening way, we travelled and toured a lot. We saw ourselves coming to the end of what we were, and we wanted to become something new.” As one of the changes, his backing band The Boy-Friends has been renamed The Visions. The content of his LP also includes memoir-like material.

“Not a concept record, but almost a novel, or a cluster of stories on a theme, a combination of fiction and a half-true memoir,” explains Furman. “A personal companion for a paranoid road trip. A queer outlaw saga.”

“The narrative thread is I’m in love with an angel, and a government is after us, and we have to leave home because angels are illegal, as is harbouring angels. The term ‘transangelic’ refers to the fact people become angels because they grow wings. They have an operation, and they’re transformed. And it causes panic because some people think it’s contagious, or it should just be outlawed.”

“The album still works without the back story, though,” Furman adds. “What’s essential is the mood — paranoid, authoritarian, the way certain people are stigmatized. It’s a theme in American life right now, and other so-called democracies.”

Furman cites Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City, Kanye West’s Yeezus, and Angel Olsen’s Burn Your Fire For No Witness as influences on Transangelic Exodus.

As a first look at the record, Furman has shared a theatrical, almost glam rock track called “Love You So Bad”, which can be heard below.

Transangelic Exodus Artwork:

Transangelic Exodus Tracklist:
01. Suck the Blood From My Wound
02. Driving Down to L.A.
03. God Lifts Up The Lonely
04. No Place
05. The Great Unknown
06. Compulsive Liar
07.Maraschino-Red Dress $8.99 at Goodwill
08. From A Beach House
09. Love You So Bad
10. Come Here Get Away From Me
11. Peel My Orange Every Morning
12. Psalm 151
13. I Lost My Innocence

To support the LP, Furman has set up a 2018 North American tour.

Ezra Furman 2018 Tour Dates:
02/25 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room
02/26 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
02/27 – Indianapolis, IN @ HI FI
02/28 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
03/03 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
03/04 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
03/05 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
03/07 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
03/08 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
03/10 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
03/11 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall