Is the Netherfriends single “Friends With Lofts” a mockery or a celebration of the hipster sub-culture? Should you read Mimi Haddon’s scathing critique of the Dirty Projectors for The Quietus or Christine Haughney’s expose on Williamsburg trusties in the New York Times, you’ll come away convinced that Shawn Rosenblatt’s admissions “I’m too cool to nod my head to the rhythm of the Seventies post-punk band that played at my friends’ loft,” and “I’m too busy to wash my hair or change my clothes because it shows I don’t care,” are damning self-portraits of the scene he’s fallen into. Conversely, if you’re into being disinterested, loft parties, neon fashion, dirty hair, and the Dirty Projectors, Rosenblatt could be recounting the Friday night of your life.
Yet, the more I listen to “Friends With Lofts,” and its sometimes whimsical, sometimes sincere take on the modern psych pop of The Flaming Lips and Animal Collective, the more I become convinced that it is neither critique nor celebration — It’s simply Rosenblatt’s attempt to fit into a scene burdened with an abundance of superfluous rules, brimming with self-awareness, sprinkled with wit, and fashioned to fit within the structure of a pop song.
MP3: Netherfriends – Friends With Lofts
