I feel like I'm struggling now, and nearly every musician I know feels that way - even the most successful ones. I realize that I'm very lucky, but I still feel like I could be doing so much better.
Eleanor FriedbergerI'm such a copycat."I want to try and do this like the Donovan song 'Changes'," or "I want to do this bit from Van Morrison." I don't know how else to illustrate something, because I'm not a super-great musician. In that way, I'm more like the producer.
Eleanor FriedbergerWhen you're working with somebody else in that kind of way, you always have to have these guidelines to what you're doing - especially when you're working with your sibling. But when you're working by yourself you're free to do whatever you like.
Eleanor FriedbergerIt was more about getting together with other musicians and playing live. I needed to suss out a full set [for the Last Summer tour], and I didn't want to play Fiery Furnaces material. So half of our set was new songs that we ended up recording for this album. And that made such a huge difference - going into the studio after playing a song for two years, knowing it inside-out and having sung it millions of times, and then recording it is a totally satisfying experience. You're suddenly in this controlled environment and you can make it sound exactly as you've been imagining it.
Eleanor Friedberger