Matt Freidberger, mad genius of the Fiery Furnaces, and no longer with sister in tow, doesn’t show any signs of toning down his eccentricities and quirks on this track from Winter Women, the more pop-oriented half of his forthcoming double-album. The lyric sheet for “The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co. Resignation Letter” is just as thick and scattered as his writing on Blueberry Boat and Bitter Tea, only now he can’t rely on Eleanor’s easy, deeply sexy charm to pull it off. What’s remarkable then, is that this is just as catchy a track as any he's written yet.

Much of the success can, of course, be attributed to the superb instrumentation. Matt’s skill in the studio seems to increase with every album, and here the lush instrumentation and killer guitar solos make up for what he lacks as a singer. He’s toned down the synths a bit, laying off the heavy squelch in favor of something a bit more listener-friendly. More than ever he seems willing to play by the rules, working in a gentle breakdown as he sings the sad refrain of “the Pennsylvania rock oil company / is oozing and black as the holdings of / if you were resigned from loving me.” Okay, so “playing by the rules” might still be a bit off, but he’s certainly creating a much more accessible pop music, and that’s not a bad thing.

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