Eleanor Friedberger :: "My Mistakes"

We are a sucker for a good confession. The kind that sneaks up on you in the middle of a crowded party - and the din of other peoples' chatter offers part of the drama and the backdrop - where someone stares at your face and tells you something exciting or terrible. Their eyes are clear, like we imagine Eleanor Friedberger's are when she writes lyrics like, "I thought I'd learn from my mistakes." It is simple and the refrain around which the author stuffs other asides like, "She's got kind of a native vibe before that was so cool/she's got kind of a native vibe before I even knew who was who/And he's ignoring me like it's 2001." We are clearly at the mercy of her universe, not entirely rational, as the singer of the Fiery Furnaces builds the kind of soundscapes that slide between territory already well surveyed by Feist and more meditative Arcade Fire cuts (this is purely based on a few measures of shabby guitars and is particularly unuseful; I mean, there are horns at the end). Her tone is revealing, in this case not meaning worthy of a second layer of meaning, rather simply the pulling of drop cloth off a piece of furniture, like leafing through an old notebook. Her debut will be out later this year on Merge.

Listen :: Eleanor Friedberger - "My Mistakes"