As a painfully big fan of The Fiery Furnaces, it follows that I’m also a fan of Eleanor Friedberger, their singer and guitarist.

In 2009 The Fiery Furnaces released the superb I’m Going Away, from which I’ve already posted Charmaine Champagne, but it’s been a little quiet since then, with only Take Me Round Again, an album of alternate takes, to keep fans happy.

So the news of Eleanor Friedberger’s new album, Last Summer, arriving July 12th 2011 is pretty dang exciting.

Merge have released the first track from the new album and it sounds great. Some kind person has already snuck it up on YouTube (see below) but in case that disappears and I haven’t replaced it when you read this, you can also pick it up from Pitchfork.

*Update* You can now stream the whole album over at NPR.