Eleanor Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces)

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.

Just getting around to this album, it's good! Feel like she's kind of under the radar these days, deserves more attention.

"Cathy With the Curly Hair" definitely is on my 2016 mix.

has a nice 60s Dylan vibe too, guitar playing is great, one of the albums I've enjoyed most this year

new album is really solid, not a duff song. i actively disliked the fiery furnaces but solo friedberger is such a great songwriter. and i agree this would have fit perfectly into the 60s/70s but on the other hand like all great music it is timeless.

sorry to be direct but fiery furnace = shit, eleanor solo = great is pretty much the most boring opinion ever

not sure I get what u mean?

I have the Fiery Furnaces EP and I like it and hear a lot of Eleanor's songwriting in it, but the sound is harsh on the ears, slightly aggressive, it's very artsy and creative - which is nice and cool, and was perhaps kinda trending in the 00s.

Her solo stuff though is really really good singer/songwriter material, well played, good vibey, especially this new one finds her with a great band, perhaps her strongest material...

so... it's a boring opinion because it's obvious? (I would never call FF shit though, it's just v different)

it's a boring opinion because it follows an extremely dull & hackneyed mythos of young tearaway artist 'maturing' and making some classic 'golden-age' aor 'singer-songwriter' pop-rock with all its 'timeless' qualities and radio-ready concessions to The Art Of Song

now i have nothing against e friedberger and her music as it is nowadays (it's never moved me really, but i will give this new one a go) but positioning the fiery furnaces (who were completely unlike anyone else ever, for better or worse, imo better) as a failed, 'artsy' experiment and her solo material as a good-vibey breakthrough is musical conservatism of the most irritating order

nobody fucks with matthew friedberger's new stuff, which is such a shame, because it's just as fearless and bizarre as ever

it's a boring opinion because it follows an extremely dull & hackneyed mythos of young tearaway artist 'maturing' and making some classic 'golden-age' aor 'singer-songwriter' pop-rock with all its 'timeless' qualities and radio-ready concessions to The Art Of Song

you sound like a lot of fun

coincidentally, i've just given up on the new e friedberger after 3 songs. the only decent one was basically knocking on heaven's door redux. ta-ra! you'll find me on Fiery Furnaces sans sis: Matthew Friedberger's Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School

I feel you, imago, if not quite as vociferously. Keep meaning to give this new Eleanor solo LP a try and haven't gotten around to it.

I've liked a couple of the solo songs but, you know, it's a lot like spending time with releases by Unicorns solo members and thinking "hey, this is nice enough, but you know what would slay? IF SO GOT BACK TOGETHER AND MADE MUSIC THAT WAY INSTEAD."

I would be more into Eleanor's solo stuff if it was all more like this song, which I unreservedly adore even now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74-iyAoMa6Y

I like her 2016 record a lot.

The aesthetics of transgression are just as stale imo imago, but hey, I LOVE MUSIC and some of that music is singer/songwriter/aor and if that makes me a boring conservative so be it

Also Staring at the sun is a good song but wtf those YouTube comments are dreadful

Both FF and Eleanor solo are things I should, on paper, like more than I do - both in the same wheelhouse as (different) things I like but have never quite clicked. I haven't heard this new one yet though so maybe that'll change things.

it's a boring opinion because it follows an extremely dull & hackneyed mythos of young tearaway artist 'maturing' and making some classic 'golden-age' aor 'singer-songwriter' pop-rock with all its 'timeless' qualities and radio-ready concessions to The Art Of Song

i don't care if my opinion is boring or not. i love the music i love, that's all. i don't know if friedberger has matured or not, i do not care really. but the fiery furnaces mini-operas really annoyed me and her new songs do not. i am aware of the fact that i have a rather predictable taste but it does not bother me at all.

one thing is for sure. i definitely do not care about people who only like or dislike stuff not to appear boring. as that is silly.

niels and alex--I think you're letting concept-crazed, overly ambitious latter-day Fiery Furnaces keep you from enjoying some very cool records. If you like Eleanor's solo stuff, I highly recommend the Fiery Furnaces singles collection (released, iirc, as EP), as well as their first album, Gallowsbird's Bark. Not as lush as Eleanor's solo albums, maybe, but just as poppy / clever / great. I love everything up to and including Widow City; I like the subsequent albums fine (except Rehearsing My Choir, which I couldn't get into), but sort of tuned out when it seemed like the albums were getting more bloated and conspicuously strange (as opposed to legitimately, accidentally strange, if that makes sense).

Widow City came after all three of Blueberry Boat, Rehearsing My Choir and Bitter Tea. Blueberry Boat was their second album. If anything they mellowed. FYI.

OK now I'm thinking I should give the singles collection a go - I do like the band in smaller doses.

I seldom sit down and listen to Blueberry Boat anymore but my admiration for it has not dimmed

I've got the ep, like it just fine

But I like her new solo record even more bcz omg I'm so boring

there should be a shorthand for when people enter a thread of musical appreciation and discussion to inform everyone that the artist being discussed actually sucks

(I realize that's not exactly what happened here and no hard feelings)

The aesthetics of transgression are just as stale imo

― niels, Tuesday, September 20, 2016 1:52 AM (nine hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fwiw I agree with this 100% and if anything it is this narrative that is tired in 2016

Also, did not realize my chronology was so way off! Could have sworn Widow City was earlier. I guess Widow City was a sort of "return to form," then?

I actually love the beginning of Blueberry Boat, and bits and pieces here and there, but in general everything she's ever done always makes me think of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YdMj8ocvns

this record seems overlooked in eoy lists

going with "A Long Walk" in my trax poll, since it's probably the most Friedbergesque on the record but "Never Is A Long Time" is p devastating too, also "Open Season" is v v nice

Yeah it's a great album. "All Known Things" is the one that sticks with me.