Eleanor Friedburger; Ex Cops @ South Street Seaport

Eleanor Friedburger;  Ex Cops
@ South Street Seaport
New York, NY - July 13, 2012

When Eleanor Friedburger was part of the Fiery Furnaces with her brother, I respected their Zappa-like commitment to artsy farsty sonic dischord but it wasn't my bag. But as a solo artist, Eleanor is not just now a student of the pop-rock school, she's almost head of the class. Last summer, she put out Last Summer, a record so clearly devoted to the late 70's and early 80's sounds of punk, new wave, and the Rolling Stones, that it was more than a special treat. It appeared to be her stock-in-trade. Carrying on in support of that sound, she took the Seaport crowd on a shoe-shuffle-bop, with the kind of music that people who go on about needing a "summer strut" song could make do with. With new musicians behind her, including a sharp saxophonist, she got into a real rhythm and her declaration of love for good time rock n' roll was about as fine a thing for the summer as can be.

Ex Cops had nice songs in their power-pop set list though the girl in the band could do without the bored-dead expression.