BY MIKE SHANLEY

The Fiery Furnaces have a secret weapon. His name is Robert D'Amico. For although the band, in some people's minds, consists solely of Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger, their ever-changing, blink-and-you'll-miss-it music and brilliant storylines derive a lot of their force from D'Amico's propulsive drumming. Whatever tricks Matthew throws into the music, the All-American looking drummer plays with authority, pounding out beats that sound like both a call and response, variations on "Bela Lugosi's Dead" and swing jazz. And to complete the puzzle Sebadoh's Jason Loewenstein - also a part of the touring version of the Furnaces for several years - acts as the glue that holds things together and occasionally takes some lead bass breaks too.

The Brillobox, a neighborhood bar with roughly a 125-person capacity live space on the second floor, is quite a bit smaller than Mr. Small's Funhouse, an all ages venue with a capacity of 650, where the Furnaces have played on their last few visits to town. But the evening never got too claustrophobic nor was the band too loud for the room. They casually made their way to the stage without any greetings (that came later), perhaps a little intimidated by the close proximity of the audience. It probably didn't relax Eleanor that one guy was filming her throughout most of the set, a few feet from her face.

 "Chris Michaels," one of the epics from the band's Blueberry Boat album started the evening off with a roar, displaying the band's trick of making one song sound like two or three. D'Amico's fills and quick licks synced up with both guitar and vocals at various points, with chops that would make jazz heads and prog geeks slobber. Matthew left the keyboards at home and stuck to guitar all night, conjuring all sorts of power chords and riffs, while he occasionally looked like a deer in the headlights. Eleanor, probably the recipient of her brother's glare, stood calmly at stage right as the sound swirled around her. The occasional fashion model looked understated in shorts, blouse and sneakers, her mane of hair boxing in her face and obscuring her eyebrows. She later admitted having fallen off a bicycle accident a week earlier, which may have accounted for her low key movements.

Like they've often done in the past, the band rearranged several of their songs to make them slightly different from the studio versions. The intro to the haunting new song "Lost at Sea" evoked Led Zeppelin's "Four Sticks" without ruining the tender mood. "Charmaine Champagne" went through a series of tempo shifts including a brief calypso beat. In a move that could only come from Matthew's head, "Drive to Dallas" added another word to a line in the chorus, taking it into a lop-sided time signature."Even in the Rain" stuck to the original arrangement but the power trio arrangement brought out the hook of the song that can get overlooked with the keyboards on I'm Going Away.

Throughout the Furnaces' nearly 90-minute set, a screen the length of the stage projected black and white silent French films behind them, including at least one made by Marcel Duchamp. The visuals didn't exactly gel with the set but it added to the phantasmagoric quality of the evening. Before going into their latest album's title track, Matthew referenced one of the images behind him, reminding the audience, "When you go away, don't look back, or you might end up like Lot's wife just did," referring to a scene where a woman was transformed into a pillar of salt.

The live Fiery Furnaces have gone through several incarnations: Loewenstein has moved from bass to guitar and back; Eleanor played rhythm guitar while her brother played both keys and guitar; and an extra percussionist joined them on tour. The power-trio-plus-singer version might be the most "normal" version of the band, but it also works the best because it doesn't lose their quirk in an array of instruments. Everything is easy to discern and goes a long way towards revealing that, when all is said and done, they're a great pop band.  

[The Fiery Furnaces are currently on tour with White Rabbits. Their tour dates can be viewed at their MySpace page.]