One-half of The Fiery Furnaces and the bands chief songwriter, Matthew Friedberger’s first foray into solo recording is a ballsy two-disc set of songs that are as all over the place as any of his other albums with sister Eleanor Friedberger.
Whenever an artist releases a double-album, very rarely does it entertain long enough to warrant it’s length. I usually count the good songs and wonder why the artist didn’t release it as one single kick-ass album. Though full of jazz-spazz freakouts fueled by keyboards and lyrics that are as random as the song titles “Under the Hood at the Paradise Garage” and “Ship Scrap Beach Business,” the albums offer a heavy dose of beautifully crafted pop songs rather than filler. Winter Women is his attempt at writing more conventional pop songs (though it’s not as conventional as you might think), while Holy Ghost Language School is the more experimental record playing as a sort of rock opera with the concept being based on the opening of a Christian language school. But it’s the former recording that though is not as challenging as Language School is the most accessible and inviting. Beautifully written songs like “Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company Resignation Letter” and “Up the River” with its Beatlesque song structure a la Sgt. Peppers make this album sound both new and retro.
While it’s unfair to judge this album as a whole because both albums included are the exact opposites of themselves, I’ll just say this, The Holy Ghost Language School offers a heavy blend of strange songwriting and keyboard created electronic blips and bleeps that generally make up abrasive songs in the vein of avant-garde jazz with moments of brilliance. Winter Music is filled with poppier songs more groove oriented and psychedelic based. Though I still think this would have made one damn good single album, it is impressive overall with its eclectic amount of tracks. Though I’ve never been especially into The Fiery Furnaces, this effort is a fantastic first from Matthew Friedberger. Considering that these albums make up two of four albums he has written (The last two Fiery Furnaces albums included) in the last 10 months, I would put some butter on him because he’s on a roll! |