Fridge

by Jason AnkenyThe British post-rock trio Fridge comprised guitarist Kieran Hebden, bassist Adem Ilhan, and drummer Sam Jeffers, longtime friends from the Putney area who began playing music together while attending school. A chance record shop encounter with another friend helped put the group in contact with Output label chief Trevor The Underdog Jackson, who signed them the next day; the first Fridge record, the single Lojen, was released in early 1997, with all three members still in their teens. The full-length Ceefax followed a few months later, but it was their final release of 1997, the epic Anglepoised EP, which won the group their first significant radio airplay and critical raves; the equally brilliant Lign — a tandem 7 and 12 release with no overlapping tracks — appeared during the early weeks of 1998. The second Fridge LP, Semaphore, arrived that March and was followed by Orko, another 7 and 12 double-pack; the EP was their last new material for Output, with the trio signing to Go Beat! soon after. A two-disc collection of their Output singles, Sevens and Twelves, was issued in late 1998, with a full album, EPH, following the next year. Fridge released their fourth full-length, Happiness, in 2001 on the Temporary Residence label. After that release, the band took time off to pursue their numerous side projects and side careers, with two members releasing solo efforts on Domino. Hebden recorded material under the names Four Tet and Joshua Falken, Ilhan issued two solo albums, and Jeffers started a successful web design business while enrolled as a student at Harvard and LSE. Their time apart may have proved fruitful, but the guys were itching to tackle another album under the Fridge moniker, and did so with 2007s The Sun.