Eleanor Friedberger: Rebound (Frenchkiss) Review | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Saturday, February 8th, 2025  

Issue #63 - Courtney BarnettEleanor Friedberger

Rebound

Frenchkiss

May 04, 2018 Eleanor Friedberger

Rebound marks Eleanor Friedberger‘s fourth solo release since the disbandment/extended hiatus of her former band The Fiery Furnaces in 2011, a band that she was a member of alongside her brother Matthew Friedberger. Whilst she has always fallen within the remit of indie rock, Friedberger’s solo efforts have certainly shown a noticeable change in tack. On her last album, New View, she soundtracked many a 2016 sunset with elegant yet full-bodied indie rock. It wasn’t so much of an artistic departure as it was an artistic progression. On this new record, we see the remnants of such a departure and the outcome is less than satisfying, to say the least.

Inspired by Friedberger’s time in a club in Greece last summerthat just so happens to also be the name of the albumRebound sees the full band aesthetic of New View replaced by much smoother instrumentation. Here, her ample vocals are supported by muted guitars, warm synths, and an overall feeling of restrictiveness, infiltrating the purity of her sound and leaving a lot of these tracks sounding undercooked. Nothing, from lead single “In Between Stars” to closing track “Rule of Action” feels like a fully realized version of the ideas that the tracks were all borne from.

As most music fans will tell you, it isn’t the truly awful albums that aggravate or hurt the most, but rather the disappointing albums by artists that you know are more than capable of creating great music and, whilst The Fiery Furnaces or Friedberger’s solo career haven’t led to global fame and superstardom as of yet, she is nonetheless an established name that has now had a sub par outing. The conviction that has defined her career so far is nowhere to be seen here and, whilst the reason for this change is still unclear, the result is a record of missed opportunities and inexcusable shortcomings. (www.eleanorfriedberger.com)

Author rating: 4.5/10

Rate this album
Average reader rating: 5/10



Comments

Submit your comment

Name Required

Email Required, will not be published

URL

Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below:

There are no comments for this entry yet.