It barely seems possible, but Matthew Friedberger just might be more prolific as a solo artist than he is as one half of the Fiery Furnaces. The first time he went solo, he released two albums at once, Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School. This time, Friedberger released six albums over the course of 2011 as part of Thrill Jockey's subscription-only Solos series. Without his sister Eleanor and the rest of the Furnaces, Friedberger focuses on the most insular, frenetic part of his music, and this is what Solos’ first volume, Napoleonette, delivers. Napoleonette is an extremely specific album, as Friedberger's work tends to be: These songs feature him and only him on the piano and only the piano, though not necessarily tickling the same set of ivories on each track. Since this is a solo album in the most literal sense of the word, Napoleonette is musically simpler than Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School or any of the Fiery Furnaces’ albums. It’s still intense and often unpredictable, though, as no other musicians stand in the way of Friedberger channeling his ideas. And since the piano is such a timeless-sounding instrument, Napoleonette has a charmingly vintage feel -- the song title “I Had an Old-Fashioned” takes on more than one meaning. “St. Giles Parish”'s brisk melody feels like it comes from a sped-up silent movie, and a lyric like “Ruin of the waxworks by the evil old mill” is unlikely to be a hook in anyone else’s songs. “Shirley”'s rinky-dink piano could be straight out of a saloon -- or a brothel, as the case may be (“Courteous and Orderly” returns to the whorehouse to plant a kiss on a harlot’s cheek). Friedberger plays every part of the piano on opening track “Hey Chief,” interspersing a madcap keyboard melody with autoharp-like strokes of the instrument’s strings, and brings a punky energy to proclamations like “It’s fate I hate” on “What a Weird Weird Weird Weird.” A handful of true pop tunes like the title track and “I’ll Ride Right Up on My Mule” lend some balance to Napoleonette's more eccentric moments, but that’s kind of the project’s point: Solos is a vessel for Friedberger's unfettered stories and musings, and since it’s limited to just 700 sets, it’s just the kind of wild ride his die-hard fans will want to take. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi

1		Hey Chief
2		Shirley
3		What a Weird, Weird, Weird Weird
4		St. Giles Parish
5		Napoleonette
6		Courteous and Orderly
7		I'll Ride Right Up on my Mule
8		I Had an Old-Fashioned
9		Oh, The Hell of It
10		North To...

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