Netorare Fan Club
Netorare Fan Club is the bedroom project of American singer-songwriter Matt Duy – (Queens-based at the onset of 2015) with origins in Hackettstown, New Jersey. The Netorare Fan Club debut record, Make Believe, due out April 7th on Mint 400 Records, initially was described as “a glistening success that combines reverbed guitars with sleepy vocals and synth-pop tinges… bringing to mind Yo La Tengo” by Obscure Sound.
The album’s cover art, illustrated by award winning short film animator Christina Molinterno, features a wistful snowscape tucked beneath a glistening night sky, and should immediately summon the words Dream Pop to mind in big bold letters to any observer. And for sure, Make Believe’s opener “Make Believe” delivers with a synesthesiatic pop number with glittering synths, chorus-soaked guitars, and whispery vocals about imaginative dream-lovers faraway. Though revamped with improved instrumentals, the song still contains the original guitar lines recorded in the spring of 2013. This is also the case for the sleepy tune “Bicycle”, and the tribal sounding “Crystal Jungle”, which feature ethnic bongos and a synthetic rainstick.
Though the syrupy dream pop elements prevail throughout the majority of Make Believe’s ~40 minutes, the presence of post-punk influences cannot be ignored, especially in 3rd track “Girlfriend”. Towards the end, the wrenching solo over fuzzed-out chords is reminiscent of the opening to “Only Shallow” off the album Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, and boldly departs from the song’s prior melodic overtones, trading them for harsh dissonance.
Despite the innocuous contours of the music, listeners may find the lyrical content uncomfortable at times and melancholic without a doubt. Ben Gibbard’s influence on Duy’s songwriting is palpable through soft-spoken verses of unrequited love and longing, though manifested through more sensual and eerie contexts. The tenth and final track, “Netorare”, unambiguously illustrates a voyeuristic escapade true to the song’s title which in Japanese literally translates as taken away by sleeping with. The ecchi nature of the content is masked by the song’s poppy melody and flirts more so in the electropop territory, and is the album’s only track with no guitars.
Arguably the most dreamy song on Make Believe is the six minute ballad “Go to sleep”, the first single released by Netorare Fan Club. With a myriad of instruments culminating in one sweeping crescendo, the ninth track more appropriately serves as the climax of the album. The chorus and outro sections also feature female vocalist, Ally Hardy, a friend of the band.
“Imagine living out an entire lifetime in a single dream and when you awake you’ve forgotten everything, but all the emotions experienced in that lifetime come rushing into your head. Some are wonderful and some are unnerving. I think that was sort of the feeling I was trying to convey” Duy said about this epic debut album.
TRY: #1, 2, 9
RIYL: The Postal Service, The Cure, Yo La Tengo
Download full album here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/
More Info Here:
http://www.netorarefanclub.com
http://mint400records.com
https://twitter.com/mint400records
https://www.facebook.com/mint400records