Eleanor Friedberger Photo: Supplied
Nick Bollinger checks out the new views of Fiery Furnaces front-woman Eleanor Friedberger.
‘It takes a long time to grow young,’ goes the much-quoted line, from Picasso, by which I assume he meant that achieving a child-like simplicity is harder than throwing all your adult neuroses at the canvas. ‘I was so much older then/I’m younger than that now’ might be Bob Dylan’s variation on the same thought. Either of which can be applied to the latest development in the work of this singer and songwriter.
It’s a long way from the music Friedberger was producing when she started out making records, some fifteen-odd years ago, as a member of The Fiery Furnaces; a Brooklyn, New York-based duo comprised of herself and her brother Matthew. Matthew played numerous instruments, sang and wrote most of the material; Eleanor joined in on vocals. Together they specialized in maximalist indie epics.
But this is the third collection Friedberger has released since the Furnaces put their activities on hold five years ago, and the latest step in what seems to be an ongoing process of reduction and simplification. Her voice was always the most accessible thing about The Fiery Furnaces. A warm, clear alto, it reached out to connect, through what often seemed like a dense fog of styles, from synth-rock to opera buffa. In these new songs that communication is much more direct. The melodies are straightforward, like folk-rock songs from the sixties, and the voice more gorgeous than ever.
A lot of these songs start with something immediate and literal; a view from a window, say, or walk across town. Others have the feel of emails or replayed conversations.
You won’t find any overwrought dramas, though by paying attention to the spaces – the unsaid things between the lines, and the solitary tone of the texts - you might find hints of a relationship breakup.
More directly, there are references in several songs to a change of surroundings. Not long ago, Friedberger left her Brooklyn home for a more rural location in upstate New York; the explanation for the album’s title New View. The move was an economic one; Friedberger has said it had become impossible to carry on being a professional musician from a Brooklyn base. Yet it would certainly be wrong to characterize this album as any sort of howl of self-pity. Rather, New View just seems to be Friedberger trying to reflect the world as she sees it. And that view looks – and sounds - pretty good.
Songs played: He Didn’t Mention His Mother, Open Season, Your Word, Never Is A Long Time, Does Turquoise Work?, A Long Walk
