Eleanor Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces)

Dunno why this record didn't blow up

Bought it today, think it's great. Was never that into Fiery Furnaces.

I'm starting to prefer the solo records than the FF ones. I am having a lot of fun with the FF records but her solo albums somehow speak to me more. I wonder if I'm the only one.

Personal Record is lovely, but the only solo record I've heard. It's going to be high in my poll for the year. Was listening again to it today and it's gorgeous.

I just heard this record in the last month, due to starting weekends at a record shop. After looking & admiring the cover art for a couple weeks, I popped it on during a slow period, and am really digging it -- love the warm 70's production & the sound of the whole thing...especially the rhythm section and her voice. And I *hated* the Fiery Furnaces, with a passion that only being a College Radio music director & listening to way-too-much-shit can bring.

liked FF, love Eleanor solo, so Van Horn, you're not alone there at all

will give this a listen! blueberry boat is still bigger than jesus you jaded loons :D

of course her solos are better. the reason is the lack of her brother.

(no pretentiousness)

such ban

would describe this record, 3 1/2 trax in, as 'not unlikeable', maybe rising to 'intermittently pleasant'

haha nah i'm bein a shit. it's p good

her two solo albums are more my jam than the fiery furnaces at this point. i appreciate the band, but after awhile i didn't appreciate them enough to listen to them anymore.

neat as this is, it's absolutely nowhere even remotely near to the FFs at their mindblowing chameleonic best. much more musically conservative, much less surprising or limber about song narrative. but hey, nice li'l conventional popsongs if that's what you're into

oh ok 'tomorrow tomorrow' is massive

uh and the next song is incredible too. wai u wait 6 tracks 2 turn shit gr8

yeah the first couple of FF records were great

more than the first couple! widow city and bitter tea both monstrous(ly underrated). actually i don't rly like the first one, it's nothing on what came after

this EF album definitely a second-halfer

new song is cool, weirder than most of her solo stuff, maybe more fiery furnace-ish, with its static instrumental break and spoken word bits.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2015/10/eleanor_friedbe_15.html#more

Will check, thanks. I need to catch up with all of her solo stuff, but heard the mannered delivery complained about upthread as (possibly inadvertent yet) effective characterization on FF albums: anxious, sometimes neurotic, sometimes even "Joan Didionesque middle-aged woman on the verge," as St. Vincent said she was going for herself (interesting to hear young women doing that; guess who feels it knows it, or some of it).

Precision vs. chaos barely off-stage, is the implication.

Or inference, at least.

Actually it's not all off-stage on FF albums, where her brother's soundz can be oops upside the head.

If her solo settings are more sedate, might not work.

will listen to this but it's extremely annoying how she gets all the hype when her bro puts out the far superior material

he released an amazing album this year that nobody's heard. i write about it/link to it here: Fiery Furnaces sans sis: Matthew Friedberger's Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School

c'mon you can't actually be annoyed that someone writing and performing pop songs gets more coverage than one who releases "certifiably insane synth-rock operas"
as you say in that thread, it's basically his choice.

oh i'm cool that she gets more coverage. but he gets virtually none! ah well, guess yer right, it is the way it goes. listen to his stuff tho maybe, esp 'i wasn't working'

fwiw the new e friedberger song was decent imo

i actually put in the winter women cd in lately but didn't make it very far. i see now that he played in new york just last night. you are right he gets basically no coverage, which is remarkable given FF's former profile.

I listen to Personal Record more than any FF records these days.

Eleanor Friedberger's two solo records are great - Personal Record especially. Fiery Furnaces fucked it up. She should've been a big star.

what makes her good is exactly what stands in the way of stardom

Listening to the Matthew album now. It's pretty good! Not even as wacky as some the FF stuff.

Saw both Friedberger siblings on the street today. They are cool looking.

did they look cool in a 'making music together again' way

Nah. I've seen them together in the last few years so I didn't read anything into it.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/i1/bp/eleanor-new-view.jpg
Out January 22.

01 He Didn't Mention His Mother
02 Open Season
03 Sweetest Girl
04 Your Word
05 Because I Asked You
06 Never Is a Long Time
07 Cathy With the Curly Hair
08 Two Versions of Tomorrow
09 All Known Things
10 Does Turquoise Work?
11 A Long Walk

False Alphabet City not on there. Samples sound like the last record, maybe slightly more acoustic/pastoral.

Keeps up her run of great album covers.

Whoah that new song He Didn't Mention His Mother is fantastic. I love it I love it

looking forward to this.

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/13/462845881/first-listen-eleanor-friedberger-new-view

this is really nice
i feel like her and cat le bon are 2 of the only ppl who can pull off a 70s singer songwriter vibe and have it feel fresh and not annoying to me
sucks that john misty is so much more successful. i kinda liked him on first blush then it really curdled for me.

Wish False Alphabet City was in there. Was that a soundtrack song or something?

New one is nice, and yeah, I agree, she's really good at the 70s singer songwriter thing without making it seem conspicuous or retro. New one isn't immediately grabbing me quite like the previous two, but I've still been playing it a lot.

New album has really grown on me in the last couple days. It was all blurring together for a while there. But I have the album in a playlist of new stuff and I played it on shuffle: every time a Friedberger song came up I was blown away by how smart it was. Her songwriting is so sophisticated and effortless at the same time.

Saw her in Glasgow a couple of days ago. I just think she is one of the geniuses. Wild songwriting. Last tour she had a band, this time on a stool and acoustic guitar. That would usually bore me. But she's great. I loved it. Bumped into some friends after and couldn't speak.

listened to the album in the office yesterday, not sure what it is she does with these simple songs that make them stand out and work so well, but.. well, it sounds great!

Haha, maybe this is just me Hearing Things, but in quick succession:
-- play the first minute or so of the 1993 album entitled New Wave;
-- play the first minute or so of this 2016 album entitled New View.