Nada Surf: Lucky
Barsuk
2008
Rating:


Despite seeming like a standard indie-pop record, Nada Surf's "Lucky" doesn't fully reveal its pleasures immediately.

On the first listen, "Lucky" sounds indistinguishable from Rogue Wave, Death Cab for Cutie and Chris Walla (the last two are perhaps not surprising considering Walla produced this album). The production is sleek, the melodies bright, the beats midtempo – frankly, it seems pretty and innocuous.

Time spent with "Lucky" is time well-spent. More so than "Asleep at Heaven's Gate," "Plans" and "Field Manual", "Lucky" rewards multiple listens. Beneath the lustrous veneer is genuine pop craftsmanship.

Like The National's "Boxer," "Lucky" deftly balances personal angst with current politics. Nada Surf hits hard with opener "See These Bones." Guitarist-vocalist Matthew Caws' mournful voice sings, "Everyone's right and no one is sorry." Later he sings, "Try as they might, no one's immune to / Misfiring and acting on the wrong clues / And thinking it's time to redo and redo." These intimations could just as easily refer to the Iraq War as to relationship disasters. Just as the song seems like it's truly political, it turns to lyrics about drunk-dialing. The disorientingly arranged "The Fox" is more explicit and seemingly takes on an allegedly "fair and balanced" news network: "The fox, the fox lied / Fox eyes on the wrong prize / We're in a different war with ourselves and with some of you / So many things that don't hold true."

"Whose Authority" is a blast of pure melody. Drummer Ira Elliot counts off before Caws and bassist Daniel Lorca join him striking down-strums. The harmonies of the chorus and the "ahhs" are spine-tingling. Equally harmonious is "I Like What You Say," a pop song as simple as something from the early Beatles that offers little lyrically other than the title and the admirable goal, "I only wanna make you happy." The dive bar tinkle of "Are You Lightning?" stops the heart when it turns into a bittersweet sing-along ballad with the unlikely compliment, "Look at the size of you." More sorrowful is album closer "The Film Did Not Go 'Round," which could be a companion piece to Radiohead's "Videotape." While Radiohead's song is about capturing a memory to film, Nada Surf's is about the inability to emotionally connect to that manufactured memory.

Nada Surf excels at this kind of melancholy. Each song contains fatalistic undertones of doubt and remorse, yet somehow Caws finds uplift by the song's resolution. Nada Surf's reason for hope may come from the healing power of music itself. "Beautiful Beat" is dedicated to the redemptive powers of a good rhythm and a good melody: "Beautiful beat get me out of this mess / Beautiful beat lift me up from distress."

"Lucky" is the work of true tunesmiths, artists who know sometimes the best songs, especially ones that are the most affecting, sometimes take time to grow on the listener.

Posted Saturday, February 9, 2008

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/music/nada.surf/lucky