Ezra Furman performed at Ace of Cups Monday. Credit: Courtesy of Sarah Arvin
Ezra Furman played a set at Ace of Cups, supported by Cincinnati natives, The Ophelias, Monday.
This show comes as the sixth stop on her 2025 North American tour, promoting her tenth and most recent album, “Goodbye Small Head,” which was released May 16.
According to the album’s press release, “Goodbye Small Head” was “written during a maelstrom of overwhelm,” as the Boston-native struggled with a sudden onset of seizures. Furman channels an emotional combination of beauty and terror, which she likens to the feeling of powerlessness after a rally.
Several artistic influences are present in Furman’s music, but there is not one prevailing sound out of these.
“I would call this an orchestral emo prog-rock record sprinkled with samples,” Furman said.
On the topic of influences, Furman cited Radiohead, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Magnetic Fields, and Cat Stevens as artists who left their marks on her music, as well as Alex Walton, whose song, “I Need the Angel,” was covered by Furman as the album’s closer.
Furman also found The Waterboys’ “This is the Sea” and Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” to be a dual inspiration and challenge.
“[Part of my writing process for this album was] wondering if I could reach those and all I really got in that was descriptions of feelings of powerlessness,” Furman said. My listening experience, however, was nevertheless a soaring one of awe and mysticism.
Ace of Cups’ classic red velour curtain backdrop, hazy room and colored stage lights gave the performance a classical feel that seems like it could be straight out of a music video. An amalgamation of a variety of rock sub-genres, moments of violent, raw intensity led by Furman on electric guitar punctuated the show.
Prior to the show’s 9 p.m. start, the venue played Furman’s playlist, including Sleater-Kinney’s “One More Hour,” setting the scene for the evening. According to the album’s press release, “‘Goodbye Small Head’ is a lyric from the 1999 Sleater-Kinney single ‘Get Up,’ a phrase breathlessly, almost ecstatically intoned by Corin Tucker [from Sleater-Kinney] as she contemplates death and the dissolution of the self.”
In her interview, Furman said that she wanted to carry the feeling of awe from “Get Up” to “Goodbye Small Head,” adding that the Sleater-Kinney reference fulfills the desire to put herself “in lineage with queer feminist punks.”
As a transgender woman in music, Furman has taken the alternative paths in life as an art in the name of visibility and expression, in turn attracting a diverse crowd, composed largely of queer people and artists. Furman has shown care for her fans, saying that she hopes her shows can be “some kind of therapy,” for all parties.
In addition, Furman would like her shows to serve as a community builder, asking that fans exchange autographs with each other instead of only asking for hers at future shows. However, when she does meet fans, she said she would like them to share their names so they can build deeper connections.
A few hours after the show, Furman shared via Instagram that she now goes by the name of Liz among friends and family, after coming out as trans four years ago. Despite the change, she’s still responsive to her former name.
“My name is also still Ezra,” Furman said in the post. “I use it professionally but also still personally, too.”
Furman ended the interview by sharing her thoughts on Columbus’s music scene.
“I have been coming to Columbus many years, and we almost always have amazing shows there,” Furman said. “I have a sense of the quality of the place; I feel supported by Columbus.”
