Rather than taking Ritalin, two siblings harnessed their Attention Deficit Disorder and directed it toward music.

With obscure historical tidbits and love of The Who and similar ’70s bands, the two combined their influences into their own, distinct music. And thus The Fiery Furnaces was born.

As part of a WMRE show, scheduled to be opened by Dios Malos, the duo will perform at the Mary Gray Munroe Theater in the Dobbs University Center tonight at 8 p.m.

Matt and Eleanor Friedberger, two siblings from the quiet Chicago suburb of Oak Park, grew up just like any brother and sister — listening to music and arguing with each other. Like many normal siblings, they were never very close.

Sometime after college, the two ended up back at home and started recording music together.

And what bizarre, wondrous, perfectly random music it is.

Their 2004 LP, Blueberry Boat, certainly may have been one of the most unique releases of last year. Even stranger, they recorded their 2005 double LP, titled Garfield El and Singing to Speak Chinese, with their grandmother.

They also released an EP in 2005, aptly titled EP.

Their lyrics run the gamut from odd to eclectic to encompassing obscure foreign slang. Blueberry Boat features a song titled “Straight Street” about Eleanor’s job working with a cell phone company in Germany. The song has a turn of words so intriguing it could seemingly only be sung by the odd duo: “Tea time at Damascus computer café / I’m looking busy and staring off the other way / Leverkusen, Juventus, Leeds vs. Valencia / I’m overhearing their nonsense in extensia.”

The siblings also seem to have a love of alliteration. “Cousin Chris” on EP is an example of their often nonsensical lyricism: “So Tommy, look here what you did / Barnacle Bill’s bound bonus bid / My mommy must have made up my mind / Many months me for Mandy Miller resigned / Right raise rank rise rust / and how she ever fussed.”

The duo’s affection for history shines through in many of their songs. Their song “1917” harkens back to the last time Chicago had a World Series winner, and includes name-dropping of White Sox stars of the time.

At the end they complain to their father: “So I ask Dad, ‘Why can’t we ever win, ever win, once?’/ Go ask Dad, why you can’t ever win, ever win, once.”

In a 2003 interview with Splendid magazine, Matt said of his own work, “The music is supposed to be happy, and we’re supposed to be happy playing such silly music. It sounds a little rinky-dink, and it’s meant to.”

The music is most certainly happy — it sounds like it was made by two maddeningly insane 12-year-olds who have the tunnel scene from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” stuck in their brains.

With their oddball tactics, lack of an attention span and arbitrary nature, one would think The Fiery Furnaces would be considered a decidedly indie group. Yet they are also responsible for some infectiously sweet pop songs, such as EP’s “Tropical Ice Land,” which sounds like it belongs on a commercial advertising a safe summer product — snow cones come to mind.

And like the snow cone, their concert tonight is guaranteed to be both sweet and cool. Don’t miss it.