When: 7.30pm on Thursday 29 August 2013
Where: Night & Day Cafe, 26 Oldham St, Manchester, M1 1JN

We’re excited to be bringing Fiery Furnaces frontwoman Eleanor Friedberger to Manchester, backed by a band featuring members of Field Music!

At a time when most female singer-songwriters perform as alter egos, Eleanor Friedberger is simply, refreshingly herself. And that’s just the way her fans like it. Having spent the last decade fronting the indie-rock institution The Fiery Furnaces (currently on hiatus) with her brother Matthew, in 2011 she emerged as a formidable solo artist with Last Summer, a thoughtfully crafted tale of memory and place couched in the organic pop of her 1970s idols. Instantly, Friedberger established herself as a modern-day heir to the tradition of Donovan, Todd Rundgren, Ronnie Lane and their ilk: Warm, nuanced, timeless songs. No gimmicks necessary.

Eleanor returns this summer with her second solo album, Personal Record, out on 4 June on Merge Records. It is Eleanor at her finest; recorded in late 2012 in New York and Los Angeles, and written with musician/novelist Wesley Stace, Personal Record is full of love songs – hellos and goodbyes, infatuation, pre-occupation, loss – but not simply about romantic love. Eleanor explains, ‘They’re also love songs to music: how you feel on stage when you do something spontaneous and it works, how you feel when you hear someone sing a song for the first time, what it’s like to watch a friend perform, how you can feel close to someone you barely know because you both happen to love the same record, or playing the same song forty times in a row, not being able to rest until you own every song recorded by your favorite singer, or every version of your favorite song.’

Eleanor will be touring throughout the summer in support of Personal Record. In the UK, she will be backed by members of Sunderland band Field Music.

Support comes from Empty Pools. Formed in the halcyon days of fading summer 2011, they artfully combine elements of noise rock with teen dream melodies, late 1970s CBGBs angularity and the jazzy, world pop sophistication of the Thrill Jockey set. Following a handful of DIY releases, their first single for BATTLE (Frenchkiss Label Group) made it into Pitchfork’s Top Tracks of 2012, alongside coverage in the NME, Drowned in Sound, The Line of Best Fit, and on BBC 6Music and Radio 1. The band have since shared stages with Sharon Van Etten, Destroyer, Menomena, White Denim and Tom Tom Club. Empty Pools have just wrapped up recording on their debut album, Saturn Reruns, which is released on 4 November on BATTLE, preceded by single Exploded View on 26 August.

Buy tickets now with no booking fee. Tickets are available from Common (no booking fee), Piccadilly Records, Vinyl Exchange, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketabc.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

Attend on: Facebook | Last.fm