Nada Surf - The Weight Is A Gift

Nada Surf
The Weight Is A Gift

A long time ago, in a music galaxy far away, there was a great band called Nada Surf whose spectacular rise from humble garageband to MTV rotation regular culminated in the band’s abrupt dismissal by disgruntled biggiewigs at Elektra Records. Or so it’s been said. They then promptly vanished from the indie music scene. More than seven years later, the band released another album (Let Go) to pretty good reviews and fast foward to today where they’ve got a pretty good following and now reside on one of our favorite indie labels, Barsuk Records.

Though a long time may have passed (band years are like dog years; so you could say Nada Surf has been kicking around for 70 years in those terms) they still write some of the best straightforward indie powerpop tunes this side of Matthew Sweet. Their latest album is called “The Weight Is A Gift” and it certainly is a gift in its instantly likeable and hummable pop tunes.

I sort of feel that as far as the vocals go, the band that Nada Surf reminds me most of is The Posies, especially on the more rockin’ tracks. For that matter, the song structures are often similar to the Posies. Others have heard echoes of Teenage Fan Club, Superchunk, and Death Cab For Cutie in the music.

I’ve always felt that Nada Surf really seems to straddle well a precarious line between major alternaradio and best kept indie secret. The songs are easy to like more often then not: “Do It Again”, “All Is A Game” “Always Love” contain the kind of friendly hooks and melodies that lure in casual listeners and serious powerpop fans alike. But just to show you they mean business, “Blankest Year” makes it mark with a bouncy chorus peppered with frequent F-words. Other songs like “Your Legs Grow” and “Comes A Time” contain a mellower, dream-rock sensibility.

One of my favorite songs was “In The Mirror” which chugs along with a seriously catchy guitar riff that alternates between two notes to create this nice drony backdrop over which Matthew Caws layers pure and sweet vocals.

In any case, if they keep putting out great records like this, I don’t see why they won’t be around for ANOTHER 10 years after this…

by Bryan