Album Notes

PRESS:

"Sweethearting is self-assured and lively, exhibiting both sonic depth and a multi-faceted, engaging lyrical style." -Delusions of Adequacy

"Each song works beautifully as a little standalone slice of baroque indie-pop." -City Paper

"That place where folkpop meets highly-crafted, gorgeous guitar pop... Production so lush, firm, and warm, it takes over rooms." -The Big Takeover

"Godamn this band is really good... Topping the list of bands they sound like is American Analog Set, [but] actually, in some instances, PE’s songs sound even prettier and more delicate." -Palebear

"Private Eleanor evoke the confident, mature sound of artists such as Red House Painters and the late Elliott Smith... The new record is an assured display of subtlety and craftsmanship." -On Tap



ABOUT 'SWEETHEARTING':

"All I want's a place to be," sings Private Eleanor toward the end of 'Sweethearting', the band's fourth full-length record. The harmonies from singers Austin Stahl and Marian Glebes are as lovely as anything in the Private Eleanor discography – a little-heard but critically-acclaimed body of work stretching back to Stahl's lo-fi cassette days at the beginning of the decade – but there's an odd tension at work here. Though these eleven songs are full of characters who yearn for a sense of belonging, they're played by a band who has confidently found its sound.

Private Eleanor, who hail from the underdog city of Baltimore, has been called everything from "whisper-folk-pop" to "infectious indie-rock" to "moody, progressive pop." At various points, they manage to conjure Mojave 3 produced by Wilco, or Simon & Garfunkel fronting the Dismemberment Plan, or Yo La Tengo tackling your favorite Neil Young and Big Star songs. Whatever you call it, the album's assuredness and sonic depth recalls the later records of Ida, Elliott Smith, or Red House Painters, where previously understated acts discovered that a little extra muscle only heightened their songs' emotional impact.

To that end, 'Sweethearting' was made with the help of two of the nearby DC scene's most in-demand indie-rock engineers: T.J. Lipple and Chad Clark. The pair (whose collective resume includes the Evens, Georgie James, and their own bands Aloha and Beauty Pill) helmed the fast-paced sessions at their Silver Sonya studios and the legendary Inner Ear, with most of the performances captured live in the studio. The result is a record full of sly hooks, sparkling textures, and the same oblique-but-evocative storytelling that once led Baltimore's City Paper to tout Stahl as the city's best songwriter.

Over the past few years, Private Eleanor has toured the east coast, midwest, and south, sharing the stage with a range of nationally known underground artists – Starlight Mints, Dios Malos, Caitlin Cary, New Radiant Storm King, The Broken West, and fellow breakout Marylanders Metal Hearts and Page France, to name a few – whose diversity serves to highlight the band's eclectic appeal. Sweethearting is the culmination of those road-sharpened skills – the sound of a band that knows just where it belongs.