Pitchfork

The Fiery Furnaces just keep chugging along in their quest to join Ryan Adams, Ani DiFranco, and Robert Pollard in the Productivity Hall of Fame. Yesterday, Furnace Matthew Friedberger gave Pitchfork the exclusive lowdown on his forthcoming solo albums.

Yes, albums. This summer, Friedberger will unleash not one but two solo records on the brand-new label 859 Recordings. The LPs will be paired together, Outkast-style, and will be respectively titled Holy Ghost Language School and, tentatively, A Miserable Life for Nieces.

Currently holed up in Key Club Studio in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Friedberger took a break from recording to chat with Pitchfork about his ambitious new project.

"They sound very nice," Friedberger said of his two bundles of joy. "And entertaining. The one record is a story record, [about] a guy from Chicago [who] goes and starts a business school for English in Japan that operates by xenolalia, you know, to do the business transactions. So they get the Holy Ghost and start speaking in tongues to negotiate." Wow, sounds like a lost Zappa record.

Added Friedberger, "even if that sounds like a silly story, it's just fun for a record because then you get speaking in tongues and you get to have people getting happy on it."

As for the other record? "It's unfortunately got me singing all the time. It's not very aggressive, I would say. Actually, there's a lot of guitar solos, I guess."

True solo affairs, Holy Ghost and Miserable Life will be decidedly sibling- and matriarch-free. "I'm afraid it's just me," Matt joked. "There's a lot of machines playing on it...they have their own personalities. Like, this is kind of weird: This Tapco 4400 Reverberations system has a definite personality. But yeah, there's no other people."

So why the sojourn into solo-hood? "Eleanor's on vacation," Matt revealed. "We have a logjam of records, so [this is] the only way to have something come out relatively quickly."

"And I don't have to bother Eleanor to get her to sing all this crap, so...that's the advantage. It's an act of mercy."

Song titles for the more straightforward record include "Betcha Don't", "Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company Resignation Letter", "Wisconsin River Blues", "Do You Remember?", "Big Bill Crib and His Ladies of the Desert", "PS 213 Mini-School", "I Love You Cedric", "Nola", "Servant in Distress", "Up the River", "Motor Man" (about "the guy who runs the 'L' train"), "Hialeah", and "Quick as Cupid".

Holy Ghost Language School may include "Seventh Loop Highway", "The English English Teacher" and "ATA Flight 4377" ("That's my favorite one," proclaimed Matt).

Clearly, Friedberger has high aspirations for his art: "I hope they're very friendly," he said of the records. "Nice for people to put on in the background."

So, any final words for Pitchfork, Matt?

"Well, don't make fun of me too much."

No problem, Mr. Burger and Fries. Just kidding!

As previously reported, Matt, Eleanor, and the whole Fiery gang will head out on the road in February. Here are those dates again:

02-10 New Haven, CT - Toad's Place
02-11 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
02-13 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle *
02-14 Charlotte, NC - Visulite Theatre *
02-15 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel *
02-17 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder *
02-18 St. Petersburg, FL - The State Theatre *
02-19 Orlando, FL - The Social *
02-20 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds *
02-22 Atlanta, GA - Smith's Olde Bar *
02-23 Nashville, TN - Exit / In *
02-24 St. Louis, MO - Mississipi Nights *
02-25 Champaign, IL - High Dive *
02-27 Indianapolis, IN - The Music Mill *
02-28 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop *
03-01 Millvale, PA - Mr. Small's Theatre
03-03 Ithaca, NY - Cornell University
03-04 Providence, RI - Rhode Island School of Design Auditorium

* with Deadboy & the Elephantmen

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