Pitchfork

Before he was known for razzle-dazzling 'em as Four Tet, or avant-jazzing them with Steve Reid, Kieran Hebden was cutting his teeth as part of post-rock trio Fridge. Hebden, bassist Adem Ilhan (who serenades the world as Adem), and drummer Sam Jeffers have kept Fridge in cold storage for a bit, but the boys are finally ready to let their ideas thaw on an as yet untitled fifth Fridge LP. Besides becoming better musicians in the intervening years, and recording some of the new songs in a proper studio (a Fridge first), the band have suggested a return to "earlier-era Fridge eclecticism."

Drummer Jeffers was kind enough to discuss the album in a recent e-mail exchange with Pitchfork. The new recording, he said, marks "a move away from some of the more directed feeling of the last two albums, where we tried quite hard in advance to make 'whole albums' with a single concept or feel."

Jeffers also mentioned that the band felt excited to be playing together again, and that all 10 of the new album's songs are complete (totaling 52 minutes). "Some people who've heard it have said it's a bit darker than our previous stuff," said Jeffers. "Certainly there's a stronger strain of improvisation and 'freeness' running through it than ever before. Maybe even a contrast between some quite tight, rhythmical stuff, and loose, no-rules music-- often in the same track."

The album will feature only the three founding members, who all happen to be childhood friends. That should bode well for Fridge's upcoming performances, beginning with a set at NYC's Bowery Ballroom on September 3 as part of the Temporary Residence Limited 10th anniversary bash, where Jeffers predicted Fridge will play "a mixture of some quite old stuff and three or four of the 'playable' ones from the new record." He added that Fridge tend to keep their live shows streamlined, but that "a very special friend or two might well play with us in New York."

After that, Jeffers is off to study public policy at Harvard, Hebden will continue his collaboration with Steve Reid, and Adem will perform several more solo shows-- until Fridge reconvene in January 2007 for the release of the new album. Jeffers said that some Fridge touring in the UK and maybe the U.S. will occur that January, with a probable summer 2007 tour of the States to follow.