Nethers at the Black Cat: A Kinder, Gentler Carlsonics
Friday, February 17, 2006; Page C08
The two main things to know about Nethers is that the core of the group used to be D.C.'s Carlsonics and that they don't sound much like their hard-nosed previous incarnation. The band made those distinctions clear while kicking off a seven-week cross-country tour on the Black Cat's backstage Wednesday night, although hints of maelstrom often burbled just under the surface during its engaging set.
Partly inspired by the countryside surrounding the band's practice space in central Virginia, Nethers's debut, "In Fields We Will Lie," blends rippling indie guitars, stately folk tempos and dour shuffles behind bassist Nikki West's vocals. West's singing dominated Wednesday's 50-minute performance, but Mike Scutari's rumbling drums and the guitars of Aaron Carlson and John Passmore agreeably scrabbled at the edges of songs like "Hung Herself in a Birdcage."
It was West who kept the songs from unhinging, her vocals falling and rising in bucolic lullabies, recalling both Georgia Hubley (of Yo La Tengo) and the waking-dream landscapes of Kendra Smith in Opal, whose 1987 album "Happy Nightmare Baby" would certainly delight Nethers fans. Indeed, the band sounded best when it shimmered, whether on a soaring cover of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's (via the Monkees) "Porpoise Song" or their own "Migratory Birds," which built to a boil but never spilled over its edges.
Although it may be unfair that West and company will suffer countless comparisons to their old band, Nethers already sound like a more flexible outfit, as well as one with more potential.
-- Patrick Foster
