Personal Record provides exactly what it promises: a tender but unflinching catalog of Friedberger’s romantic failures.
In Personal Record, Eleanor Friedberger has delivered on every promise she’s ever made with her music, and come up with an ever-unfolding, fully-realised gem.
Personal Record is a breath of fresh air. It’s a light, breezy summer album with a surplus of hooks and pop-minded melodies.
Personal Record is so jam-packed with clever wordplay and fleeting, sometimes contradictory emotions that it occasionally feels as much like a short story collection as it does an album. But the tight, buoyant pop arrangements keep it from getting bogged down.
The big take-away from Personal Record is how Friedberger seems more comfortable in her own skin as a songwriter now, even if that’s conveyed more in the smoother, natural sound of the music and less in the conventional sense of getting personal by baring your soul lyrically.
Even if the album is more comforting than exciting, it's still an enjoyable portrait of Friedberger's artistry: warm, genuine and a little mischievous.
This new collection retains her vintage indie-pop charm, while updating it with a broader array of instantly classic washes.
Ironically, Personal Record doesn’t feel as personal as 2011′s Last Summer, moving from journal entry heartache to a more diverse set of voices and themes. That said, love, as always, plays a large part.
Another summer album of frisky, playful, intelligent, tune-filled wonder from a great songwriter born to put a massive slobbering smile on yer face.
Broucek's analog approach gives each recording a warmth, and all of the separate instruments are given proper attention. Because of this and more, Personal Record is another fine entry in Eleanor Friedberger's career.
It’s a record that, more than the last one, you can lose yourself in.
What we have here is an album’s worth of incredibly passive, indifferent music-making. It’s not offensive to the ears, nor is it particularly challenging in any way.
Personal Record is quite a fun record. Fans of The Fiery Furnaces who want another wildly experimental album may not cling to this album, but what this album lacks in experimentation it makes up for greatly in tight songwriting and slick-as-hell production. Friedberger's emotions are as strong as ever and she is always on point. Definitely check this out if you want some summer tunes.
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