Yes, comparisons can be made to Animal Collective when talking about Chicago’s Netherfriends. They both share a lushness and obsessive love of overdubs. That said, never once while listening to Netherfriends debut, “Barry and Sherry” did I find myself yelling in my head, “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” like I do when Animal Collective is playing. Shawn Rosenblatt, the man behind Netherfriends, feels way more interested in giving us songs rather than noises on top of noises. For this we should be grateful. Barry and Sherry is an album full of quirky, psychedelic pop songs that usually feel fleshed out with just the right amount of instrumentation.
I will, for the sake of argument, add a comparison that maybe has yet to be made. There’s a lot of East River Pipe in Rosenblatt’s songs. Perhaps these two are more kindred spirits than the more well known Animal Collective. FM Corndog (AKA East River Pipe) also writes off kilter pop songs that he augments with keyboards and drum machines, creating a one man on the cheap version of Phil Spector’s wall of sound. And both share a nasally quality to their vocals. Where they differ is in tone. East River Pipe come across as melancholy and often monotonous whereas Netherfriend’s songs are self-referential at times and more willing to dig deep and rock on when necessary.
It’s this heaviness that makes Barry and Sherry more compelling than most art college oriented rock. “Washed Up 80′s TV Star” has so much bottom end and manic guitar parts that it prevents any chance of the album from sagging in the middle. It leads perfectly into the Flaming Lips-esque “Lead You Through The Misty Fog of Milwaukee Ave.” with its xylophone, piano and sleigh bells. The more I compare, the more impressive Barry and Sherry becomes because it is soaked in influences without sounding much like any one in particular.
