Fenster’s latest release, Bones, can easily be described as a minimalist’s wet dream. The NYC/Berlin-based lo-fi band relies on the bare minimum to form their “deconstructed pop” sound and use various sound effects to spice up their music such as the ticking clocks, gunshots and screams that can be heard in some of the songs on Bones. Despite the band’s overall chilling and moody vibe, their album opens up with a cheery acoustic guitar, a glittering tambourine and bright vocal harmonies between JJ Weihl and Jonathan Jarzyna to form “OhCANYON,” which fades into the dreamy “Fantasy II.” During the piece, the trio makes use of hand-claps and soothing melodies to balance out the thundering kick drum, which otherwise might have dominated the piece.
“Fisherman” tears down the wall of the uplifting previous tracks and replaces it with a dark curtain. The bedroom pop three-piece uses a jive bass groove, distant screams and mechanical tones to add to the eerie feel of the piece. However, after the song is over, “Spring Break” teases the listener with its vintage pop appeal, which ultimately leads into “Killer Surf Walker.” Weihl’s airy voice gets the blood boiling during the cut, ultimately making her the songstress that would lure naive sailors to their death. Bones closes out with the eccentric narrative “Gespenster,” that sums up the album in about four minutes, taking a little bit of each piece of the whole and creating one grand finale for an album that has already become a favorite of mine.
In A Word: Enigmatic
