[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: April 27 (Eleanor Friedberger, Matt Pond PA, Marianne Faithfull)

From: Jeremy Schlosberg <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:53:41 -0400

*THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com>
April 27*

[image: Eleanor Friedberger]
“My Mistakes” – Eleanor
Friedberger<http://www.mergerecords.com/audio/eleanor/MyMistakes.mp3>
**

“My Mistakes” starts abruptly, almost as if, yes, by mistake. Initially the
sound is thin—a processed acoustic guitar and some trebly percussion. Full
sound arrives with the chorus at 0:36. When it does, keep your ear on the
bottom of the mix, on that bouncing bass synthesizer, which anchors the song
with its deep octave oscillations, the likes of which would be difficult if
not impossible to create on a standard bass guitar. The unusual bass line
adds unexpected jauntiness to an otherwise edgy song—Friedberger’s offhanded
vocal and lyric style often gives the impression she didn’t write any of
this down ahead of time. Those steel-drum-like synthesizers that accompany
and follow the chorus are another odd, sprightly touch.

As for said chorus, it is profoundly wonderful, even as it does not seem to
have a particular hook, is not blatantly catchy, and would surely disappoint
those who continue to believe, against all cultural evidence, that something
has to sound wild and different to be worthy. Part of its mysterious allure
has, I think, to do with its delayed, and surprise, resolution. The first
two times we hear it, the chorus ends on the line, “I thought he’d let me in
for one last time,” and from there goes right into those steel-drummy
sounds. This seems like enough of an ending until, the third time around
(3:01), Friedberger sings the chorus through twice, and the power of the
music and lyrics here, via the simple act of repetition, is unexpected and
true. Equally unexpected and true is the saxophone that joins in at 3:30 and
plays out the song. For all its casual bounce and unsettled narrative arc,
this is one potent song.

“My Mistakes” is the first song that’s been made available from her
forthcoming album, *Last Summer*. Friedberger, as many know, is one half of
the brother-sister band the Fiery Furnaces (previously featured here
in 2006<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/?p=149>and
2008 <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/?p=220>). *Last Summer* is
Friedberger’s solo debut; it will be released in July on Merge
Records<http://www.mergerecords.com/>.
MP3 via Merge.

[image: Matt Pond PA]
“Love To Get Used” – Matt Pond
PA<http://dodge77.com/playlist/MPPA-01_Love_To_Get_Used.mp3>
**

Matt Pond PA isn’t going anywhere. Thankfully. Indie rock stalwarts who
precede the MP3 age (just barely), the group has been through many
iterations (Matt Pond himself is the only member remaining from the 1998
version), has recorded eight albums and, now, eight EPs. And I’m not sure
they’ve ever sounded better than this. (Which is saying something; they had
already been featured four times here, all for excellent songs.)

Launched off a stomping drumbeat and a wiggle of a guitar lick, “Love To Get
Used” is all sinew and punch, its brisk, no-nonsense verse building
knowingly into a chorus nearly addictive in its catchiness. Normally, I
listen to these songs over and over as I’m getting to know them and
beginning to write about them, but this one, yikes, someone’s gonna have to
yank the plug on me. I think I’ve listened about 900 times by now; I’m such
a sucker for melodies that repeat over a changing series of chords. The song
has the churning, organic drive of something from a mid-’70s Fleetwood Mac
album; 19-year-old Ariel Abshire
<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/?p=417>even stops in to play Stevie
Nicks to Pond’s Lindsey Buckingham. Not that
Pond sounds anything like LB, mind you; he has in fact long had one of my
favorite 21st-century rock’n'roll voices—at once warm and weathered, with an
elusive range and a distinctive timbre. (I had more to say about this last
time the band was featured, in January
2010<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/?p=1562>
.)

“Love To Get Used” is the lead track from the band’s just-released EP, *Spring
Fools*, which you can buy either digitally <http://mattpondpa.bandcamp.com/>or
physically <http://altituderecordsstore.limitedpressing.com/products/9487>,
via Altitude Records, which appears to be the band’s label although it
doesn’t say so anywhere. MP3 via My Old Kentucky
Blog<http://www.myoldkentuckyblog.com/?p=18750>
.

[image: Marianne Faithfull]
“Why Did We Have To Part” – Marianne
Faithfull<http://girlieaction.com/music/marianne_faithful/downloads/Why_Did_We_Have_To_Part.mp3>
**

Marianne Faithfull is 64 years old but I’m pretty sure that equates to, oh,
at least 128 years in most people’s lives. Let’s just say she’s been through
a lot, and a lot of it self-inflicted. Her scarred and persuasive voice
tells a good part of the story, independent of what it’s actually saying.

For her new album she took her voice, and the rest of her, down to New
Orleans, at the suggestion of producer Hal Willner, a frequent collaborator.
The result is something at once familiar—no matter what she does, she sounds
like herself and no one else—and a little bit anomalous. The goal was not to
make a New Orleans record per se, but the local musicians and the authentic
Bywater recording studio have surely added a vibe that Faithfull has not
accessed previously. Check out here how “Why Did We Have To Part” manages
its effortless shift in tone: what begins like a stately bit of British
folk-rock soon enough settles into a song with a subtly slinky groove,
thanks to bassist George Parker Jr. (listen to how he finds his own spaces
to play in) and drummer Carlo Nuccio, not to mention the deft organ
flourishes of none other than Bob Andrews, once a member of Graham Parker’s
band the Rumour, but a NOLA resident since 1992.

And clearly the indomitable Ms. Faithfull has the voice for all of it. I’ll
admit that I can’t quite shake the image of her as the Empress Maria Teresa
in the film *Marie Antoinette*, but it’s true, there’s something in
Faithfull’s accumulated history of decadence and despair that has, over
time, lent her an aristocratic air. Listen to how she enunciates “What would
I do without your love?” (1:38)—this is a woman who may have experienced
immeasurable loss in life but she holds resolutely onto her dignity. Note
that while this new album is, as is usual for her, primarily a covers album,
“Why Did We Have To Part” is one of the four songs (out of 13) that
Faithfull co-wrote.

The album, entitled *Horses and High Heels*, was released earlier this year
in Europe, and is slated for a U.S. release on Naïve Records in late June.

* * * * * * *

"Tell me please, how will it come?
This release, a crack in the door..."

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[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: April 27 (Eleanor Friedberger, Matt Pond PA, Marianne Faithfull)

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