Ezra Furman - Goodbye Small Head

It’s appalling, but perhaps grimly apt, that Ezra Furman’s latest studio album lands now: at a time when, in both the USA and the UK, recent legal action has made life as a trans person even less liveable. But, if anything, this bleak context only serves to heighten the significance of ‘Goodbye Small Head’ - a record of unflinching honesty and, in terms of her discography to date, unparalleled vulnerability. 

Having long been one to delight in reinvention, this tenth outing sees Ezra build on her musical bread and butter - namely, rambunctious rock’n’roll dynamics and vivid folk storytelling - with seamlessly incorporated electronic elements, creating a textured tapestry of overwhelm that’s as desperate as it is defiant. She employs a string section across much of the record (a return to the expansiveness of 2018’s ‘Transangelic Exodus’), and yet also dabbles in sampling for the first time; with its skittish drums, eulogic cello, and haunting vocals, ‘You Mustn’t Show Weakness’ is the potent pinnacle of this new frontier.

Lyrically, too, ‘Goodbye Small Head’ is some of her finest work, unafraid as it is to delve into the darkest corners of her mind (the blood-stained white flag of ‘Submission’, or the godforsaken resignation of ‘Slow Burn’), as well as give voice to her steely, world-weary wrath (“Human dignity was supposed to be a guarantee for all / Who gets left out of your dreams of a good society?” she demands on ‘A World Of Love And Care’). Ultimately, it’s closer and Alex Walton cover ‘I Need An Angel’ that encapsulates this dichotomy best: an emphatic, aching cry for connection, it’s underscored by the sound of Ezra’s ragged, breathy exhalations - be they sobbing, laughter, or both.