Oakland musicians Amber Sermeńo and Andy Jordan were still mainly active with their funk-friendly post-punk band
the World when they hatched the concept for
Naked Roommate, a project that would reshape the organic, dancey energy of
the World into something far more synthetic, cinematic, and shadowy.
Naked Roommate had been in the works for a while when
the World disbanded in January of 2020, making the time between that chapter closing and the arrival of
Naked Roommate's full-length debut,
Do the Duvet, a matter of months. Though the songs are fleshed out by contributions from bandmates
Michael Zamora and Alejandra Alcala, much of
Do the Duvet builds off the character of Sermeńo's disaffected vocals and Jordan's minimal electronic drum programming. Spacious arrangements bring to mind '80s bands that lived at the nexus of funk and no-wave. Steady drum machine pulses, a simple bass repetition, and Sermeńo's monotone vocal delivery on "Mad Love" recall
Young Marble Giants until a plinky guitar lead and distant bell samples expand the sonic picture. If
Naked Roommate had a live drummer, songs like "Fake I.D." and "We Are the Babies" might sound like dead-on re-creations of the skeletal outsider dance music of
ESG,
Liquid Liquid, or
Lizzy Mercier Descloux. Those influences are still present, but the mechanized rhythms and spartan synthesizer lines imbue the album with a dark electro feel. At first, the production seems wide-open, but
Do the Duvet hides subtle details in its many layers of reverb and synth counterpoint. This can be lively and fun, as with the pocket calculator synth tones and blurty saxophone solo on "Fondu Guru," or result in a hypnotic blur as on the delay-drenched album standout "Repeat."
Do the Duvet creates a cavernous world of songs that swing between lighthearted celebration and a more sinister robotic feel. It's a 3 A.M. dance party for malfunctioning cyborgs; strange, captivating, and transportational without getting overly serious.