Nada Surf
Lucky (Barsuk)
By Laura Leebove
Published: February 9th, 2008 | 11:32am
Calling all suckers for catchy, guitar-driven pop rock: Nada Surf's cheery blend of acoustic integrity and melodic flair will leave you happily hooked. Lucky, the trio's third Barsuk Records release, doesn't fall far from its previous two efforts, but still manages to stay interesting. Frontman Matthew Caws' songs are sincere and often uplifting throughout the album, which is shown right from opener “See These Bones.” The track—which is about the belief that people have complete control over their outlook on life—features a vocal cameo by Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and layers energetic choruses over light drums.
In addition to Nada Surf's signature sound (most obvious in “Whose Authority” and “I Like What You Say”), the group does add a couple of new elements, like outbursts of piano and the clinking of Caws' son's toy keyboard in “Here Goes Something” and a trembling electric guitar riff throughout “The Fox.”
While most of the songs are packed with infectiously poppy goodness, the band tends to stick to similar song progressions, building everything to blown-up rounds of repetitive choruses. It gets a little old, but fortunately doesn't take too much away from the sound. And as pop-rock goes, Lucky—like Nada Surf's music in general—comes dangerously close to crossing the fine line between super sweet and sugar overload. “Beautiful Beat” has a nice message, that music can pull someone out of a funk, but the chorus of “Beautiful beat, get me out of this mess / Beautiful beat, lift me up from distress” is likely to elicit at least a couple of groans.
However, for a band that has experienced the unfortunate fickleness of major labels (the trio was signed by Elektra in 1996 to release High/Low, then got dropped before its second release), Lucky proves that perseverance pays, and Nada Surf is likely to stick around for a while.
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more