Over the Wireless

The first single from Florida based Surfer Blood; 2009's blog buzz generating "Swim" was all crashing reverb ladden vocals and muscular guitar hooks, hinting at feel good summer time rock. In a tremendous bait and switch, Astro Coast is an album steeped in a desire and longing for movement, but unable to find momentum, as John Paul Pitts lets slip in the opening line of "Anchorage" - "I don't want to spin my wheels, I don't got no wheels to spin".

That's not to say that Astro Coast is a stodgy affair, far from it. Surfer Blood are a band who understand the power of a sing along hook, and who write youthfully exuberant songs with enough fist pumping feel good melodies to counterbalance the inertia and landlocked frustration in the lyrics. And landlocked is a phrase that seems central to Astro Coast - while the song titles, band name and and cover art (which incidentally has to be a strong contender for album cover of the year) all share a nautical (or at least beachside) theme, Pitts' lyrics are very much concerned with growing distance between lovers (Floating Vibes) and friends (Harmonix), and encountering a frustration at his inability to keep up.

The result is a summertime rock record that sounds as good as anything Weezer ever recorded (the most obvious comparison being the Blue Album), which can be approached on the basis of a great soundtrack to summer BBQs, or as a sad sack solitary drinking record in the vein of Dinosaur Jr. Really though Surfer Blood sound like neither of these bands. The slightly rough recording and gritty guitars lend the songs a convincing garage band appeal, with vocals and guitars being drenched generously in reverb. Pitts has an honest and youthful voice that conveys the early twenties uncertainty with real feeling.

2009 may have been the year in which bedroom recordists strove to make music that sounded like days at the beach (to wit the hypnogogic pop movement), but 2010 has seen Surfer Blood record an album that could actually be listened on the beach by people actually having a good time. Or not. It depends how you want to approach Astro Coast really.