Eleanor Friedberger Premieres New Video For ‘Are We Good?’: Watch

[Consequence of Sound]

Director Gil Kenan utilizes cut up green screen to mirror the fragmental composition of the song

By Ben Kayeon

When breaking down her recent album, Rebound, track by track, Eleanor Friedberger revealed to Consequence of Sound that the lyrics to “Are We Good?” were actually cobbled together from an unlikely source. “I based this song completely on text messages between myself and other people, which was a fun exercise,” she explained. “I went through the messages of three people I’d had relationships with, and then transcribed them — which is kind of a weird thing to do.”

Much as the song was pieced together from cut up bits of texts, its new music video makes use of different cut up bits of green paper. Director Gil Kenan utilized the various shapes and sheets to chroma key a world of different colors and locales around Friedberger. As he explains it,

“‘Are We Good?’got me hooked the first time I heard Eleanor perform it — a fragment made up of fragments. The imagery in the video is picking up on that theme, the arpeggiating rhythm, and giving shape to it on screen. The process of creating the video was nearly stream of consciousness. My wife Eliza and I sat down at her studio with a roll of green paper and cut out shapes. I animated some of them, made some props, and Eliza created a dress (or 2/3 of one) for Eleanor to wear. There’s a pretty version of the video that is all green-screen, without the chromakey, but it’s too risky to release it… someone could go rogue and composite wacky animal bloopers all over Eleanor.”

Check out the clip below.

Rebound is out now via Frenchkiss Records. Revisit Friedberger’s recent appearance on our This Must Be the Gig podcast, in which she digs deeper into her new album, crying over Guns N’ Roses, and touring the world, below. Speaking of touring, Friedberger’s full fall itinerary can be found below.

Eleanor Friedberger 2018 Tour Dates:
09/06 – Brooklyn, NY @ Dr. Marten’s Store
09/13 – Washington, DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse
09/14 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings
09/15 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
09/17 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
09/19 – Austin, TX @ 3TEN ACL Live
09/21 – Sante Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
09/22 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
09/23 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
09/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Resident
09/26 – San Francisco, CA @ The ChapeL
09/28 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
09/29 – Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theater
09/30 – Vancouver, BC @ The Wise Hall
10/03 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
10/04 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room @ Colectivo
10/05 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
10/06 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
10/24 – London, UK @ Oslo Hackney
10/25 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange
10/26 – Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen
10/27 – Lancaster, UK @ Loud in the Libraries
10/29 – Glasgow, UK @ CCA
10/30 – Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete’s
10/31 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
11/01 – Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin
11/03 – Nieuw-amsterdam, NL @ Indiestad Festival
11/06 – Hamburg, DE @ NOCHTWACHE
11/07 – Berlin, DE @ Kantine am Berghain
11/08 – Schorndorf, DE @ Club Manufaktur
11/10 – Kortrijk, BE @ Kortrijk Sonic City Festival
11/11 – Utretcht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival