The Little Coincidences That Led To Eleanor Friedberger's Latest

While the release of her latest record New View signalled a change in perspective for Eleanor Friedberger, she reveals that recording the album was a more familiar process than she had anticipated.

"I'd been playing with these guys who were my backing band with the last tour I did to promote my second solo album, and one of them went to college up in the countryside outside of New York City, not too far away from where I live now. He told me about his friend, who had just built this studio in a barn kind of behind the house where he lived. He thought we could get along well, so I went to go and meet him. It turned out my brother had previously lived in his house, just as a completely random coincidence. The barn that the studio was now in used to store old furniture that belonged to my family."

"I think playing to backing tracks is bullshit, and I would never want to do that. I can't believe how many bands do it."

The friend's name was Clemens Knieper, who produced the album. However, the coincidences didn't stop there. "When I met him, we immediately got along very well. I had a lot of faith in him as a producer, even though he was quite young. His father was a German soundtrack composer, and one of the soundtracks he did was for this very formative film for me when I was a kid, called River's Edge. It was one of those movies that, for some reason, my best friend and I watched like 25 times in a row and memorised all lines. I felt a connection right away."

Recording the album with her touring band was an experience that opened up new possibilities for Friedberger's live performances. "I was in a band for a long time and we never, ever played the songs as they were on record. At first it was out of necessity because we would have so many overdubs and such elaborate arrangements on the recordings that we couldn't replicate them live. I think playing to backing tracks is bullshit, and I would never want to do that. I can't believe how many bands do it. However, because I recorded this album with the band I've been touring with, the shows are sounding more like the record than I've ever done before. It's a new thing for me."

New perspectives are vital for Friedberger's songwriting, which is informed by experiences from her own life. Thankfully for her, the touring lifestyle brings along plenty of opportunities at each destination. She does however acknowledge that the constant change could be challenging at times. "I've been touring for pretty much this entire year, and sometimes people ask me if I like it. Occasionally I'll say that I'm not sure if I do, but I mean, right now I'm in a small town in France. I just went to a cafe and had coffee. I was sitting there thinking about how much I loved it, and that it was so cool that I was in this weird place that felt like it was out of a French movie. I think I'm just kind of well suited for it."