Return of the Son of the Fiery Furnaces Talk

The new, weirdest-album-yet, FF disc has leaked, and the reaction is sharply divided. It occurs to me that there are two very different factions within the Fiery Furnaces fandom, who have been listening to two very different bands. My half have been listening to a band that would have been signed to Shimmy-Disc in the early 90's--a weird, funny, experimental group making jokey, tripped-out records. The other faction has been listening to a brilliant pop group who have a rather off-kilter approach to their material. The latter faction is experiencing major disapointment that they are abandoning (for the time being) their pop sensibilities to put out a surreal kid's storybook record, while the former faction is delighted that they're fulfilling their potential for weirdness by putting out a surreal kid's storybook record. On the flipside, my faction sees it as a great bonus everytime they stumble upon a burst of pop genius (or a side- or album-worth of pop genius).