The rococo, logorrheic constructions of Friedberger's main band, the Fiery Furnaces, which he shares with his sister Eleanor and her frantic, uniquely obnoxious vocal stylings, grate on me too much to let me make it through to what I'm sure is their very real artistic merit. Left to his own devices on a new, two-CD release, "Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School," some of the same overwrought, overthought quality seeps in, especially on the second disc, but it's mostly reined in to the point of just providing a little frisson of intellectual complication. Friedberger's production is uniformly excellent, making beautiful use of a variety of vintage keyboards and analog synths, and "Ruth vs. Rachel" sounds a bit like a less histrionic Destroyer song.
-- T.B.
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