Photo by Phil Sharp
There’s something mesmerizing about Ezra Furman’s new song “Refugee”, and it’s not just the way the melody sways back and forth like a drunken waltz, or the meandering pathways Furman’s voice takes through the song’s unbroken verse. “Refugee” is so overstuffed with narrative that it can’t find room for a chorus, which feels appropriate given how it’s about people who wander the earth searching — and often failing to find — a home to call their own.
“‘The Refugee’ [is] my first song entirely concerned with my Jewish background and present, a song dedicated to my grandfather who fled the Nazis as well as to all of the refugees desperate for a home today,” Furman explains. Though the song starts in a “frosty green Poland”, it ends up somewhere universal, the lyrics no longer restrained to just a single person’s story. “We dedicate this record to refugees of all kinds, all over the world,” says Furman. “May all the wanderers find the homes they seek, and and may those with power welcome them as fellow citizens of humanity.”
Listen in to “The Refugee” below.
“The Refugee” appears on Furman’s new six-track EP Big Fugitive Life, due out August 19th on Bella Union. Scroll down to check out the tracklist and cover art, along with Furman’s full upcoming tour itinerary.
Big Fugitive Life EP Artwork:
Big Fugitive Life Tracklist:
01. Teddy I’m Ready
02. Halley’s Comet
03. Little Piece Of Trash
04. Penetrate
05. Splash Of Light
06. The Refugee
Ezra Furman 2016 Tour Dates
08/17 – Hasselt, NL @ Pukkelpop
08/19 – Devon, UK @ Beautiful Days
08/21 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Festival
08/22 – Bath, UK @ Komedia
08/24 – Preston, UK @ Continental Pub
08/25 – Hebden Bridge, UK @ Trades Club
08/26 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
08/28 – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/31 – Berlin, DE @ Pop-Kultur Festival
09/03 – Larmer Tree Gardens, UK @ End of the Road
09/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl *
10/27 – Manchester, UK @ Ritz
10/29 – Edinburgh, UK @ Liquid Rooms
10/30 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed
10/31 – London, UK @ Roundhouse %
11/02 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F
11/03 – Vienna, AT @ WuK
11/06 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia
* = w/ Bloc Party and Bob Mould
%= w/ Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon
