Bruce Springsteen Forum

musicchannel.cc schreibt:
Es gibt heute durchaus noch junge Leute, die nichts halten von diesen hektischem Elektro-Rock-Zeug oder anderem Trend-Treibstoff und sich vielmehr an klassischem Material erwärmen können. Die Fleet Foxes sind damit schon recht gut gefahren, auch Blitzen Trapper überzeugen nachhaltig. Ihr neues Album „Furr“ wildert im weiten Gebiet des 60er- und 70er-Jahre-Rocks und lässt Erinnerungen an Neil Young, CCR und Konsorten hochsteigen.
Die Songs klingen herrlich altmodisch und sind trotzdem mit viel Feuer und Freude gefüllt. Die Band zeigt aber auch immer wieder, dass sie nicht ausschließlich an früher hängen und streut immer wieder fesche Ideen ein (Gitarren-Feedback, vertrackte Melodien), die belegen, dass Blitzen Trapper durchaus Kinder unserer Zeit sind. Das Etikett „Classic Rock“ klebt aber trotzdem ein wenig auf „Furr“ drauf - darf es auch.

indyducky.com schreibt:
Talking about a Blitzen Trapper record as a whole is not only a near impossibility; it’s almost against the point. Ever since 2004’s Field Rexx (and continued on last year’s schizo-pop masterstroke Wild Mountain Nation), the Portland sextet has balanced equal doses of shiny indie-pop; rawkus, noisy guitar outbursts and zany synth-and-spurs space-country straight out of Westworld. So it was a bit surprising to hear Furr, the advanced single and title track of the band’s new record (its first for Seattle tastemaker Sub Pop), with its simple, guitar and harmonica-laced narrative. What happened to all that weirdness?
Turns out that judging a Blitzen Trapper record by its advanced single isn’t such a wise idea—Furr is just as gloriously eclectic as Wild Mountain Nation, jumping styles and time signatures without hesitation—but it’s also a mellower affair. Eschewing the wilder guitar freak-outs for a steady dose of midtempo pop, the first thing you notice about Furr is the piano, which replaces the buzzing keyboards that hummed through Wild Mountain Nation. The new record wades even further into Americana than WMN—from the Byrds-lite grandeur of Sleepytime in the Western World to the rollicking Elton John rave-up, Saturday Nite. There’s even a middle-of-the-album ballad, Not Your Lover, though it’s a sizable misstep that grounds the album’s momentum to a near-halt.

Das Rolling Stone Magazin schreibt:
Like their 2007 debut, Wild Mountain Nation, this latest disc by these semibearded indie rockers was recorded in a telegraph-building-turned-studio in their home base of Portland, Oregon. With the Willamette River nearby, Blitzen Trapper channeled their love of nature — as well as an apparent love for Pavement, Neil Young and various forgotten bands from Nuggets collections. The result is an engaging album full of rootsy beauty: gorgeous, wilderness-wandering ballads like "Stolen Shoes & a Rifle" offer all the benefits of a great pastoral folk-rock record, but Blitzen also toss in ragged guitars, cheap keyboards and mildly weird psych rock on jams such as "Fire and Fast Bullets." Meanwhile, frontman Eric Earley spins vivid backwoods stories that would play well around a campfire: "Black River Killer" is a creepy vignette about a murderous cowboy, and on the title track, Earley imagines wandering into the forest, watching his flesh turn into fur, and communing with a pack of wolves. Throughout the album, Blitzen keep their songs highly tuneful, making Furr a breakthrough worthy of toasting with a microbrew, or several.