This is Richard Butler? This charming, win-some Briton who keeps lapsing into fits of child-like laughter is the same guy who penned the curare-tipped lyrics to songs like “Soap Commercial,” “Pretty In Pink” and “President Gas?” Yep, it’s the chief fur himself, and he has reasons for being so happy.
For one, the Psychedelic Furs’ latest album, Mirror Moves, has caught fire. In England, it’s risen higher on the charts than any of their previous releases, and here in the states (at the time of this writing), Billboard lists the record at 59 with a bullet, after only three weeks on the chart.
Of course, such demand for the new Furs vinyl has led to a string of sold out concert dates across Europe and the U.S.— another reason for the father Fur’s high spirits.
Still, Butler’s contentment emanates from something much deeper than album or ticket sales: specifically, his whole ideology has evolved into a much more optimistic one—a change ultimately reflected in Mirror Moves’ hopeful tone.
For this, the Furs’ fourth musical metamorphosis, Butler has gone inside himself and exorcised part of his artistic spirit—hence the thoughtful title.
“Its a reflective kind of album; it’s me taking a breath,” he explains from the concert hall in Turin, Italy, where the band is about to perform for another sell out crowd. “I don’t mean that in the sense that it’s lazy; it’s me taking a breath from politics and the cynicism of the first three albums…It’s a bit more introspective—you know, when you stand in front of a mirror and do some soul searching.”
Then Richard Butler really has bared his soul?
“One of them,” he says snickering slyly.
Which one?
“The homeboy, “ he replies, cracking up. “The romantic.”
Aha! Butler’s quixotic tendencies have always glimmered through the cracks of his skepticism and disillusionment (Talk Talk Talk is evidence of that), but on Mirror Moves he lifts the shroud, permeating the album with positivity and some great love songs like “The Ghost In You,” “Heartbeat,” and “My Time.” He admits that this change in outlook stems from his realization that pessimism has no merit. “I’ve seen that negativity doesn’t have any value at all. Negativity just breeds negativity.”
His new attitude has moved one reviewer to write that the album shows the transformation of the Furs “from fashionable pessimists to open hearted pop activists.” True, since even the political songs on Mirror Moves, like the anti-Reagan "Here Come Cowboys" and the anti-press "High Wire Days," find redemption in individuality (but not the system).
Along with his refreshing sense of optimism, Butler has adopted a more direct, less ambiguous songwriting approach on the new album. Consequently, his lyrical imagery is at its most refined and a far cry from the schizophrenic collages of earlier Furs tunes.
"It's a conscious decision to be much less abstract and ambiguous. Having written previously in a very abstract manner, I can see the value of working that way and might well return to it," he explains. "For this album though, we simplified the music, so I decided to simplify the lyrics. I still prefer alluding to things rather than pointing them out directly, but on this album it's more basic; the real meaning of the song is only hidden under one layer of allusion instead of several."
Of course, ambiguity still remains a key component of every Furs song, and Butler remains adamant about preserving this ambivalence. Getting him to admit that "Here Come Cowboys" is a swipe at the president, or the meaning behind any song, is a hopeless endeavor, inevitably ending in him laughing and saying, "I don't want to ruin it by telling everybody exactly what it's about."
His vow of interpretative silence is both a particularly ambitious and clever one. He refuses to take the easy way out by bludgeoning his listeners with a blatant message, but he also understands that being blunt can turn potential new listeners away. Subsequently, he employs a shrewd "dance first, think later" strategy, knowing that once the Furs have affected their listeners' feet, their minds will soon follow suit.
"The way I write, I can get away with being political," he says. "I think 'Here Come Cowboys' can radio play and get away with being political, whereas something that openly slams politics won't get played. In a lot of ways, my method of writing is a lot more difficult—I work in a more insidious way. If someone hears our song on the radio and likes it, he or she might not realize what it's about, but they'll go out and buy it. Then, after repeated listenings, they realize the song's meaning. So, we've gotten through to somebody who doesn't think like us as a matter of course. In that way, we've been more successful as conveyors of ideas if we’d put the messages right up at the front at the beginning.”
If the Furs music makes the frontal assault on the listener while the lyrics take a more covert approach, then Mirror Moves is back-to-basics musical warfare. Producer Keith Forsey (Billy Idol, Nina Hagen) has honed the band's sound into a sharp, drum-prominent (he handles drumming chores on the album) rhythm and guitar attack which Butler says is a slicker return to the simplicity of the band's earlier material.
He also maintains that the album isn't stamped with a certain sound or direction, but critics have already labeled Mirror Moves as "exhibiting an American pop feel." He's aware of the tag, but doesn't quite agree with it.
"I'm not so sure about the 'pop' part of it," he says. "It seems to me that if a group is called a pop band, then one of their main aims is to sell a lot of records. In my opinion, that's putting themselves in the same circus as say, Kajagoogoo—we're certainly not in that same ring. With commercialism, I see the ideal position for the Furs as walking a very fine line between artistic integrity and
commerciality/accessibility. After all, it's no good propounding ideas and ideals for a living if the only people that buy your records are the ones who already subscribe to those ideals."
That final statement adequately sums up what the Furs are all about. This band doesn't want blind acceptance nor are they content to reach the same fans over and over again. Led by this romantic homeboy, the Furs want to turn some heads and change some minds; eventually building a following of thinking individualists. No wonder Richard Butler is so jubilant—with Mirror Moves on the ascent, the Psychedelic Furs are finally finding success their way.