Eleanor Friedberger has spoken to ClashMusic about the construction of her new solo record ‘Last Summer’.
One half of Fiery Furnaces, Eleanor Friedberger has a voice that is familiar to countless fans. Yet despite her already impressive career, the singer is only now close to completing work on her debut solo release.
Out now on Merge, ‘Last Summer’ is wistfully autobiographical yet with a direct, pop edge. Chatting to ClashMusic scribe John Freeman, Eleanor Friedberger explained that the time was right to commence a solo project.
“It felt like that I am 35 years old and if I didn’t do this now I might chicken out when I am a little bit older” she said. “I don’t want to put too much emphasis on age and being a woman, but I would be stupid to deny that that doesn’t come into it. I want to feel confident and good about myself and maybe I won’t five years from now.”
Continuing, Eleanor Friedberger stated that she wanted the material to be “simpler” than a Fiery Furnaces record. “I had the musical reference points for every song, but in general, compared to Fiery Furnaces’ records, I wanted it to be much more emotionally direct, much simpler in its sounds palette. I say that slightly jokingly – but I wanted it to be limited and that is a reflection of my musical ability and wanting to be able to hit people very directly.”
Read the full interview HERE.
Meanwhile, Eleanor Friedberger has unveiled a new video. Taken from the new album, ‘Roosevelt Island’ is a sweet, simple pop song and comes back with a clip filmed – appropriately enough – on the real life Roosevelt Island.
Echoing the 70s disco era, the video for ‘Roosevelt Island’ contains the same sense of nostalgic longing that permeates ‘Last Summer’.
Watch it below…
Eleanor Friedberger – Roosevelt Island from Merge Records on Vimeo.
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Photo Credit: Michael Rubenstein
