Matthew Friedberger

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Matthew Friedberger, born 21st October 1972, is one half of the brother and sister band, The Fiery Furnaces where he plays the majority of the instruments and provides some vocals. Prior to starting The Fiery Furnaces, Matthew Friedberger played in various other bands, including Corndolly, Liquorette, The Mezzanines and The Grand Vizars.
His first solo release is a double album entitled “Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School” and was released on August 8, 2006.
It is believed during the recording process Matthew played every single instrument himself except for a few drumbeats. Winter Woman has been described as a “breezy summer album” as Matt explores his more poppy songwriting skills. A rather eclectic album, Winter Woman takes many styles which come together to create distinict and very differant tracks, though the album doesn’t sound too disjointed and flows fairly well.
In contrast Holy Ghost Language School is more of a concept album, Matt himself describes it as “a noise record” and “an obscure story about christian businessmen.”
After the release Matt has stated that he has no plans to tour but instead intends to head back to the studio with his sister Eleanor Friedberger to record another Fiery Furnaces album, which is believed to be released in the summer of 2007.

Tagged as:

experimental, indie, rock, electronic, indie rock
See more…

1	Up the River full track	19
2	Quick as Cupid full track	9
3	Do You Like Blondes? full track	8
4	The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co. Resignation Letter full track	6
4	Her Chinese Typewriter full track	6
6	The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company Resignation Letter full track	5
6	Ruth Vs. Rachel full track	5
6	Wisconsin River Blues full track	5
9	Don't You Remember? full track	4
9	Motorman full track	4
9	First Day of School full track	4
9	Theme From Never Going Home Again full track	4
9	Holy Ghost Language School full track	4
14	Hialeah full track	3
14	Ship Scrap Beach Business full track	3

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[deleted-user] wrote:
November 2008

Still looking for HGLS but listening to Winter Women now and it sounds a little samey...
ihateRBF wrote:
March 2008

I agree, the vocals are way too low. Great zany tunes though.

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glovebox wrote:
July 2007

It's on amazon marketplace for real cheap. :]

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criscodisco17 wrote:
April 2007

I am the biggest fiery furnaces fan, but i cant seem to find holy ghost/winter women anywhere... can anyone help me obtain the album somehow?

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MiniMe_Miri wrote:
April 2007

Ah and I love Winter Women better; I like it sounds bad, haha. I'm from Hong Kong, bought his album because I heard Do you like Blondes in HMV.

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MiniMe_Miri wrote:
April 2007

Somebody knows how I can write to Mr Matthew Friedberger?

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Mynoreti wrote:
March 2007

with hair and makeup by the way...

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jamygabb wrote:
January 2007

Thanks Blancheflower!

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mt-modular wrote:
January 2007

What the devil is Ruth Vs. Richard??

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blancheflower wrote:
November 2006

Here's a link to an excerpt of a comic book that Matthew wrote the words to and was illustrated by Mike Reddy, who did the cover artwork for 'WW/HGLS', the Furnaces' 'RMC', 'BT' and the 'Crystal Clear' single. What a fantastic style! http://www.mikereddy.com/impelf/

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Dusterdb88 wrote:
October 2006

@ blancheflower, i'm not sure about where i heard it first but here is a link to an interview that talks about it at some point: http://www.kotorimag.com/?p=article&id=5

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Ohthehumanity wrote:
September 2006

its not half bad...although he needs to turn the music down and the microphone up.

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Mynoreti wrote:
September 2006

well i heard the albums. and i like them a lot.

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blancheflower wrote:
August 2006

a) How do you know he used to write children's books? b) He didn't really leave Eleanor out, as much as he just wanted to give her a break. He just can't turn off the faucet!

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Dusterdb88 wrote:
August 2006

And he is so good at stories because he used to write children's books (seriously).

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DamnFineCat wrote:
August 2006

Holy Ghost Language School is so superior to Winter Women, it's frightening. He's good at pop songs, but his talent is stories.

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DamnFineCat wrote:
August 2006

So glad it finally came out and I finally got it. For shame for shame, downloaders. Ps. Anyone know why he wanted to leave Eleanor out?

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Mynoreti wrote:
July 2006

i really need to hear his albums. i love the fiery furnaces.

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blendage wrote:
July 2006

heh. bit of a contrast in numbers between last week and last 6 months :D

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Arcade_Fire wrote:
July 2006

indeed they have, just nabbed them. Listening to HGLS now, good stuff =)

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