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Feb 24, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Ezra Furman

Ezra Furman recently released the soundtrack to the acclaimed Netflix show Sex Education on Bella Union. Now Furman has shared an animated video for the album’s “Every Feeling.” Watch the Sivan Kidron-directed video below, followed by Furman’s upcoming tour dates.

Furman had this to say about the video in a press release: “Kidron and I talked about that all-nighter feeling and the feeling like you’re already gone. That’s why we wanted the video to be full of empty hotel rooms, cigarettes still burning, like you’ve just left leaving everything unfinished because you just need to keep moving. Our dancing blowing flailing inflatable tube man is sort of the avatar for me at my most emotionally vulnerable. I love these images and the way Sivan brings them across, like we’re almost dreaming, like how the world feels when you’re really exhausted, like there are no people left in it, like you’re at the mercy of the wild wind.”

Kidron had this to say: “When I first listened to the song, I immediately connected with it. It’s about going through everything and just feeling tired and empty, and to me it sounded like a mantra that is saying, in the end underneath all these tumultuous emotional layers there is pure love. The thought of how there is no actual empty space if you take in mind light and air made me play with the idea of a figure that is full of air, like an inflatable tube man. Also as humans, there is always something in us even when we feel empty, and the tube man kind of illustrates that. Lacking any ability to resist, it dances so totally that it seems completely open and free, as if it embraces this emptiness and celebrates it.”

Sex Education Original Soundtrack features music from both seasons 1 and 2. The soundtrack is out now digitally and is due out on CD and vinyl April 10. “Every Feeling” was shared in advance of the soundtrack.

A previous press release said that “Every Feeling” was “inspired by a bad bout of depression.”

Furman added: “I was so bored of having these feelings year after year, I just wanted to feel them all and get them over with.”

Sex Education takes place mainly at a British high school and stars Asa Butterfield as the awkward teenager Otis Milburn whose mom, Dr. Jean F. Milburn (Gillian Anderson), is a well-known sex therapist. Otis partners with rebellious social outcast Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey), who is seen as a bad girl but is actually incredibly smart, to start a business giving sex advice to their fellow students based on knowledge Otis has gleaned from his mom over the years. Ncuti Gatwa plays Otis’ openly gay best friend Eric Effiong.

Of doing music for Sex Education, Furman said in the previous press release: “I decided I’d use the Sex Education project as a place to put my tenderness, my sadness and longing. The soft teenage feelings that every adult knows continue long after high school ends…. Making music for a TV show was a new experience for me. As a fan of many a high school comedy, for example The Breakfast Club and 10 Things I Hate About You, I knew how fun the music can be, and also how emotional. I wanted to rise to the challenge.”

For the show’s first season, the producer’s very much guided Furman’s songs. For season two, Furman was given more free reign. “They trusted us completely,” Furman said. “They were like, ‘you know what to do.’ I try to imagine what’s going to be on screen as a jumping-off point, but they don’t need songs that fit, they need songs of a high quality, that come from a real place. That’s why they wanted me, I guess. Also, I guess they noticed an exuberant vulnerability. I lay all my feelings out there.”

Furman’s last album, Twelve Nudes, came out last August via Bella Union (stream it here). Twelve Nudes was the follow-up to 2018’s Transangelic Exodus.

Read our interview with Ezra Furman on Transangelic Exodus.

Ezra Furman Tour Dates:

Thu. Feb 20 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
Sat. Feb. 22 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
Sun. Feb. 23 - Albuquerque, NM - Sister Bar
Mon. Feb. 24 - El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace
Tue. Feb. 25 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole
Wed. Feb. 26 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
Thu. Feb. 27 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom
Mon. March 16 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk (AV Club Showcase) - SXSW
Wed. March 18 - Austin, TX @ Hotel San Jose (SXSan Jose) - SXSW
Thu. March 19 - Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn (Consequence of Sound) - SXSW
Thu. March 19 - Austin, TX @ Container Bar (Dr. Martens) - SXSW
Thu. March 19 - Austin, TX @ Palm Door on Sabine (Bella Union) - SXSW
Tue. Apr. 21 - Lille, FR @ L’aeronef
Wed. Apr. 22 - Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage
Sat. Apr. 25 - Bologna, IT @ Covo Club
Sun. Apr. 26 - Munich, DE @ Strom
Mon. Apr. 27 - Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom
Tue. Apr. 28 - Prague, CZ @ Roxy
Wed. Apr. 29 - Vienna, AT @ Arena Wien
Thu. Apr. 30 - Graz, AT @ Postgarage
Sat. May. 2 - Leeds, UK @ Live At Leeds
Sun. May. 3 - Glasgow, UK @ Stag & Dagger
Mon. May. 4 - Birmingham, UK @ The Mill
Tue. May. 5 - Brighton, UK @ St George’s Church
Thu. June. 4 - Nelsonville, OH @ Nelsonville Music Festival
Fri. June. 12 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Middle Waves Festival
Thu. July. 9 - Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Bluesfest

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