BLOGHELLO.
Our band is called Private Eleanor. We're from the great state of Maryland. We enjoy vocal harmonies, caffeine, and buying vintage musical instruments that we can't afford. We're currently taking an extended hiatus from performing, but what may happen in the future is anyone's guess.
>> JUNE 2009: New Austin Stahl solo record:
Download it for free!
Austin made a solo record called The Things You Carry, which is now available as a free download at his site, austinstahl.net.
>> PE back catalog now available digitally! All four official Private Eleanor full-length albums are now available digitally at our new digital store. You can download these albums for free as 128k mp3s, or name your price for higher-quality files (high-bitrate mp3s, AACs, or various lossless formats, if you're into that kinda thing). Anything you choose to pay for the high-quality downloads goes directly to the band.
This is the first time that our first three records (Deciduous, My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions, and No Straight Lines) have been available in digital form — and it's the first time in over 5 years that the out-of-print Deciduous has been available in ANY form!
Check 'em all out: http://privateeleanor.bandcamp.com
>> Compilation appearances:
Our
final two recordings (for now, anyway) appear on The Beechfields Record Label's
compilation This City of Neighborhoods, released in 2008. Both Private
Eleanor recordings on the comp are unavailable elsewhere, and the CD is free!
Get yours at the
Beechfields site. (Or order any Private Eleanor CD from
us and we'll throw one in.) Lots of other great Baltimore bands on it
too.
Also still available from Rare Victory Records: Love Goes On, a tribute to Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens. (PE contributes the title track and appears alongside such greats as the Clientele, the Bats, Portastatic, Ivy, and Stars!)
>> Special clearance sale on all Private Eleanor CDs! Only $5 each, with free shipping in the U.S., when you buy them directly from us! Three of our four official full-lengths are still available. Place your order here!
>> Read an extensive interview with Austin on BrightestYoungThings.com. Says John at BYT, about us: "Built upon sturdy melodies and the type of harmonies rarely practiced these days, they dared to be genuine and pretty, hurt and poppy, confused yet direct. They made pop that the likes of Teenage Fanclub and Mojave 3 would happily call their own."
>> Sweethearting now streaming in its entirety on the player on your left. Hit the 'new window' link to listen while you browse.
ABOUT US
Our label says:
The music of 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.
Sweethearting, the band’s fourth full-length record, is the most confident and direct effort yet in a critically-acclaimed body of work stretching back to their lo-fi cassette days at the beginning of the decade. With the help of two of the nearby DC scene’s most in-demand engineers – T.J. Lipple and Chad Clark – the band has captured a remarkable set of songs, full of sly hooks and sparkling textures, gorgeous boy/girl harmonies and oblique-but-evocative storytelling.
The press says:
"A serious new talent... The sound they have created is spare and lovely." -Dagger
"In the most complimentary sense, this could have been the final album Elliott Smith should have made." -75orless.com
"Hushed yet adamant whisper-folk-pop... Not far from where [Teenage Fanclub] have only now alighted... Recommended." -The Big Takeover
"Simple, ramshackle melodies, gossamer guitar lines and atmospheric textures... a dizzying delight." -Baltimore City Paper
More press quotes and one-sheet/photos are here.
We are/were:
2001-2003: Austin Stahl
2004: Austin Stahl, Chris Merriam, Bruce Sailer, Drew Stevens,
Brian Jerrell
2005: Austin Stahl, Marian Glebes, Chris Merriam, Bruce Sailer,
Drew Stevens, Isaac Gurfinchel
2006-2007: Austin Stahl, Marian Glebes, Chris Merriam, Bruce
Sailer, Drew Stevens
late 2007: Austin Stahl, Marian Glebes, Bruce Sailer, Tommy
Hallett
plus, occasionally: Adam Kivisaari, Michael Nestor