"i miss you more than i knew"
Let Go, the new CD from Nada Surf, is an absolute gem. Their previous work, The Proximity Effect, was good, but this new effort is a whole lot better and smarter. Matthew Caw’s voice and the band’s music are in top shape. It’s almost like a compilation album: You hear lots of influences, but none stick out glaringly. While I was listening, I wrote: Cheap Trick, Flaming Lips, Stone Roses, Ryan Adams, Matthew Sweet, Radiohead (The Bends), and some general ’80s new wave influence. This is a pop record, but this is the pop record you’ve been waiting for from these guys.
The first tune, "Blizzard of ’77" is just guitar and vocals, but the constant strumming and well-written lyrics create an incredibly catchy song, one that I replayed a lot.
"The cars were just lumps in the snow / and then later/
tripping in 7-11/ the shelves were stretching out of control/
on a plane ride/the more it shakes/ the more I have to let go…
I know I have got a negative edge/
that’s why I sharpen all the others a lot."
The next seven songs run the gamut from fast and furious ("Happy Kid," "Hi-Speed Soul," "The Way You Wear Your Head") to an off-kilter rhythm that explodes into a pounding march ("Fruit Fly") to a quiet Sunday afternoon echo-vocal ("Blonde on Blonde") to a sparse, despair-ridden tune that transforms into an uplifting wave of emotion ("Killian’s Red"). Unfortunately, the gas seems to run out a bit after that. The last four songs, while good, are just not up to par with the rest of the disc.
Nonetheless, the band has upped the ante on what people can expect to hear from them. The music and lyrics they sing match so perfectly on every song that it’s eerie. Everything hits at just the right time. In "Fruit Fly," a low bass strumming accompanies the viewer watching the fly. When the lyrics switch to the fly’s point of view, the music completely shifts as the fly realizes it has no choice: "What can you do but go on?"
Nada Surf’s songs all sound old, sound familiar, sound new, sound like you’ve never heard them before— and that just speaks to their fine craftsmanship. About halfway through the album I was trying to figure out who they sounded like when I realized that I was remembering a song from their previous work. It’s a good sign when you begin to have such a distinct sound that comparisons don’t matter anymore— you are now a point of comparison in your own right.