Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School
Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School are two albums by Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces recorded, unlike The Fiery Furnaces records, without his sister Eleanor Friedberger. Though two separate albums, they were released together as a double album by 859 Recordings in August 2006. It was rereleased in October 2009 on Thrill Jockey Records. Track listing. Winter Women – 62:44 Bonus Tracks from 2009 rerelease- Holy Ghost Language School – 46:09 Bonus Tracks from 2009 rerelease- Additional information. Despite the solo albums The Fiery Furnaces will continue releasing new material as a group . When asked by Pitchfork Media about the reason for them being recorded/released separately Matthew, who writes most of the music and lyrics for The Fiery Furnaces responded with: ""Eleanor's on vacation, We have a logjam of records, so [this is] the only way to have something come out relatively quickly. And I don't have to bother Eleanor to get her to sing all this crap, so...that's the advantage. It's an act of mercy."" "Winter Women" is also stated in the liner notes as being dedicated to Eleanor. While "Winter Women" is a more conventional  collection of songs, the second record "Holy Ghost Language School" is a narrative-based concept album, although it has significantly fewer lyrics. Matthew Friedberger played the majority of the instruments on the records and did most of the production work but John McEntire from Tortoise and Josh Johannpeter from Mahjongg helped out by providing some of the non-synthesized drums.