Half a Fiery Furnace
For over the best part of the last 10 years the Chicago's The Fiery Furnaces have been creating music that is both original and keeps changing its sound, from being described as indie rock to power pop and at times can be considered an eclectic taste. So now we have Eleanor Friedberger, one half of The Fiery Furnaces, ditching her older brother Matthew, the more creative other half, to embark on a solo project.
Firstly we should put to bed any worries that The Fiery Furnaces will be splitting up, we have been told with great authority this is not the case. Merely after 9 albums, countless awards and a decade of growing in the music industry Eleanor Friedberger became inspired to make her first solo record without her big brother being around.
Eleanor Friedberger clearly has a great vocal talent, we already knew that and here she demonstrates her easy on the ear vocals to perfection. The album is well produced and the majority of the ten tracks on offer are great little numbers that drift you off to happy thoughts and moods. Most of the tracks have Ms Friedberber's vocals at the fore front of the song and there are a few moments when you may expect something a little bit better or possibly an attempt to try not to overdo the vocals and let the music work for you instead, one or two too many "oh oh's" and "yuh's" to be honest, like on 'Glitter Gold Year'.
Although to say that really feels like picking bones, as this is quite simply a beautiful album. Music and lyrics are varied enough to keep it fresh all the way through from tracks like the dancey anthemic 'My Mistakes', to the funky sounding 'Roosevelt Island', the gentle seductively sounding 'One-Month Marathon' and the haunting 'Inn Of The Seventh Ray'.
"Last Summer" is basically a highly enjoyable album, maybe not expected to win any awards but if Matthew Friedberger does decide to call it a day with music, it's clear to see that Eleanor Friedberger need not worry, she has a perfectly good solo career waiting to take off.