Winterreise by Jerskin Fendrix is an experimental pop album with really colorful and abstract song-writing and dynamic, often surprising production. There’s so much range and quirkiness with the production decisions on this one that it’s impossible to predict what sounds are going to come next from minute to minute, but it’s what makes it such a fun listen! To me it sounds like a long-form, more mature Jack Stauber’s Micropop. Onigiri is my favorite track and just one of the many catchy moments on this album.
This song makes me think of Jerskin Fendrix as an Animal Crossing character (in the best way). I’ve never even played Animal Crossing but the vibe of the song with all the auto-tuned and pitched vocals, the video game sound palette, and the simple and sometimes silly lyrics on this one come together in a genuinely fun and cartoonish way even though the song seems to be about a relationship that ended. The dying Pac-Man sound effect at 0:30 is a cool little lead into the chorus and maybe lends a little extra context to its meaning.
For half a second during the chorus – you can hear it at 0:37 – on the word ‘ate,’ it almost sounds like Jerskin’s actual voice comes through for a moment. But it’s literally for half a second. I don’t know if that was done deliberately but that moment stands out to me because the vocals everywhere else are so dressed up and filtered that it feels like it’s the real Jerskin coming to the surface for once, gasping for air. It adds the slightest bit of depth and character to the track. Or it could have been a total mistake and not mean anything, but listening to the rest of his collection, he seems like a pretty intentional person.
When I think about the lyrics and all of these bells and whistles, I interpret it as he is recalling this failed relationship or crush as a character – like he’s disconnected from this memory or the person he used to be. Also, this may be totally coincidental, but the final lyric “I remember…” echoes the catchphrase, in tone and literal delivery, of South Park’s ‘Member Berries’ which makes the person who eats them nostalgic and are actually introduced in the show as being manipulative in preventing people from progressing and adopting change. With all of the other nods to pop culture, I would not be surprised if this too was intentional.
Overall, very cool song to listen to while you’re harvesting berries in Animal Crossing.
P.S. If you’ve never heard ‘Member Berries’ before it might be hard to unhear it in the song after you watch this video… just a warning lol