ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF OF ELEANOR COURTESY ALL PHOTOS Goodbye To All That (opposite page) On a break from recording in Germantown, we’d walk The exterior of Sunnyland Studios in You might know Eleanor Friedberger as one half of brother-sister duo The Fiery Furnaces, but after 2011 she ventured on her own, releasing a total of three, down to the Roeliff Jansen Kill, or simply, “the river,” to drink a beer. In Germantown. I was enjoying a moment in the summer it’s a good swimming spot, and the current can be so strong — dirt, in the sun, AKA “grounding” myself. full-length solo albums. Up until her recent record, New View, most of her material related directly to her long-time home of — her songs acted as it’s almost like swimming in an endless pool. urban vignettes while the lyrics weaved together clever observations. But with her recent move to upstate New York, her songs take on a different kind of space, one that feels more expansive and lyrically more ambiguous. In trading her city life for more rural pastures, Friedberger has infused her music with bygone eras and places. Layer this with an analog approach and barn-built studio, and the music exudes location unlike any of her previous records. In our conversation with Friedberger, we explore travel, her decision to leave the city, and the inherent connection between music and place. Eleanor Friedberger Leaves the City to Gain a New View by Gigie Hall

COLLIDE . 101 Here’s a view of the control room at Sunnyland, the ground floor of the barn. From left to right, there’s the Ampeg bass amp, Malcolm’s Fender amp, my old Univox tube amp I inherited from my brother, and Clemens’ homemade guitar amp. This was the set up for overdubs; while we were recording the basic tracks with the entire band, we had to put amps into the trunks of cars since there is no isolation in the barn.

Here’s my band Icewater practicing in my factory rehearsal space. The reverb is intense, like playing in an airplane hangar, but the light is unbeatable.

Do you think music and place are intrinsically tied or does music There must have been some conscious decision to get out of the transcend place? city to record this?

for my brother in the ‘90s — I remember going to Greece with my I had these five reggae comp cassette tapes that someone had made There definitely was. mother and my brother and I took the cassette tapes with me. Driving Were you trying to communicate that place through the music, through the southern mainland of Greece, listening to this reggae music, or did it just happen organically because you were there? I remember saying something stupid like, “This looks like we’re in I think it’s the latter. I wasn’t trying to do that, but I moved out of Jamaica,” and my brother was like, “what are you talking about? It looks the city a couple of years ago and worked on these songs mostly like Greece.” At the time I had never been to Jamaica. I’ve been twice in Los Angeles before coming back to New York to record it, so since but it was funny in that way. It was warm, and I think of Jamaica as it made sense that it should have that effect. But like I said, it’s warm, but I think the music informed the environment in that instance. really hard to put your finger on why exactly.

I took a trip to Jamaica several years later with a friend who owns Can you walk us through the production process and how that a record store in Los Angeles. We listened to all this incredible old had anything to do with it? rocksteady and reggae music. So now I can listen to that music and I wrote the songs on my own, but I presented them to my it just immediately takes me back to that place. bandmates who I’ve been touring with, and we worked on the arrangements together in a rehearsal room in LA. Then we So that music can bring you back to its place of origin or to Greece came back to New York to record them with a friend of one of and it works both ways. my bandmates who built a studio in a barn next to his house. Right, very different places and people, so it has that sort of power. I’ve We did a combination of recording in an analog way and also been trying to think a lot about this in the record that’s coming out in digitally, but all of the basic tracks were recorded onto tape January, and how to me, it doesn’t sound like a city album, and what with everyone playing together in a room. I hate using that that even means. To me it sounds like open spaces; it sounds more like word “organic,” but it should feel like that because it was a This is the second floor of the barn, where we did all the live tracking and where I’m testing out vocal mics. I ended up recording most of the vocals downstairs because up here we had too much of the California; it sounds more like upstate NY where the record was made. live band. elements to contend with — the rain and the chirping of baby birds. But I’m not sure why.

102 . TRAVEL WITH PURPOSE The exterior of “Ted’s Room,” the bar my roommate Milton and I built in a room off of our barn.

Eleanor Friedberger’s The room had Guide to Germantown previously been an office and we gutted area, home of and redesigned Sunnyland Studios: the space, initially for Milton’s 40th birthday party. Favorite local landmark: It remains as a place where Olana, on the way to Hudson, is the home of the “anything goes,” Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church. but mostly serves as a party room It’s an incredibly beautiful house with stunning views for darts, drinking of the Hudson and the Catskill mountains. and watching Led Zeppelin DVDs. Favorite restaurant: Gaskins, a recent addition to Germantown. If you’re in the mood to splurge, it’s the place to go. Best way to get around: By car. Best season to visit: Do you think having recorded it that way affects your windows, so it’s incredible to just get to play, even if I’m Toss up between summer for the swimming, fall for live performance? just practicing by myself in this space looking outside. It’s a the leaves. Oh yeah, for sure. I think a lot of bands work this way — a lot totally different feeling. Favorite local business: of bands who are actual bands and don’t play pre-recorded Otto’s Market for snacks, coffee, kombucha, beer — music. We worked on the songs and played a bunch of shows Do you have any favorite stops in Europe or the US that essential for recording. on the west coast before we recorded them. So it’s actually you’re looking forward to on your tour? the opposite; I think playing them in front of an audience There’s nowhere bad. I have to say, without sounding too corny, informed how we recorded the album, which is something I I’m pretty grateful to play anywhere. I’ve made myself have had never done before. that attitude. Even in places where you think they’re just going to be terrible, there’s something good about it. I’m excited Is there any particular song you’ve written recently that about our upcoming US tour because I’m actually playing in a is attached to a certain place? place I’ve never played before, which is Boise, Idaho. Oh, so many. On this album there weren’t as many, which I was trying to be conscious of. My other two albums actually Musicians travel so often and they can sometimes become have the names of the places in the titles. I wanted this one to uninterested in the places they visit because they’re there be a lot more vague so that anyone could insert themselves for such a short period of time. Do you still try to explore, or do you hunker down and take care of yourself? already put out, I mention walking over a bridge, and that’s It depends. I’ve been touring with these guys who I made the into the stories. But on the first song of the album that we’ve very much about New York. record with and have been playing with for a couple of years. They’re much younger than me and they haven’t done that Is there something about being in a more rural landscape much touring. About two years ago I toured with them for a that has changed your mindset at all about music or month, and they were so excited. They hadn’t been to most creating in general? of these places so their enthusiasm was really contagious. I use it in different ways. Now I have a house where there’s Before that I had been playing with the same people for a a room next to the kitchen that’s basically just records, a long time — people who had a lot of experience, and like record player and a couch. I only listen to records when you said, it’s all kind of the same after awhile. But it was nice I’m in there or when I’m cooking, and now there is certain to surround myself with some people who hadn’t done it music that I associate with cooking or being able to sit in before. It made a big difference. But I still tour in a van, so that room. I also have a place to play music where I live in we’re driving most of the day, and I’m lucky if I have time to this huge, huge space with huge windows. Most people who do anything. If we do have time or a day off we try to take practice in the city practice in closet-sized rooms with no advantage of it.

The corner of the ground floor control room where lies the tape machine and I’m walking up to Clemens’ house, behind the studio, probably heading to the bathroom, or on the sleeping dog we were babysitting for a few days, nicknamed “Puppy.” my way to making a cup of tea. Leaves are bare — sunny, but still chilly in April.

104 . TRAVEL WITH PURPOSE COLLIDE . 105