Album Review: Winter Women / Holy Ghost Language School by Matthew Friedberger

Over the course of the Fiery Furnaces' albums, Matthew Friedberger has shaped a style that's distinctive enough to be called Friedberger-esque. His solo debut, Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School, presents two discs' worth of the most accessible, and most experimental, versions of that sound in a yin-yang duality, much like the way the Furnaces' previous albums, Rehearsing My Choir and Bitter Tea, were supposed to be released as a complementary set. While both parts of Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School have lots of berserk pianos and squelchy synths, song titles that would make Robert Pollard jealous, and lyrics sprinkled with Scrabble-worthy words, Winter Women has a string of songs that just might be his best forays into (almost) straightforward pop.

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