Nada Surf returns to the rock ‘n’ roll fray with the group’s latest, Let Go, two years after its last effort, The Proximity Effect. Let Go is not so much a departure from the band’s earlier work as it is a reorganization of the members’ earlier roles.
Let Go is the result of four years of touring, a botched sophomore CD release and a lot of musical experience. Pop music seems to be taking a markedly depressed path this season, as entries from Beck, Aimee Mann and The Flaming Lips seem to have set standards, providing huge environments, solid lyrics and slower tempos. While Nada Surf doesn’t always seem to embrace the idea of a low-energy record, the sentiment seems much the same.
Again, reverb is everywhere; guitars like sirens ring out in the background, and people talk about love — a lot.
While love is a tired subject, its treatment is everything. Often becoming a predominant force in life, it can blind people to their other actions. Love sickness can become a cycle that is hard to break from. The break from that cycle seems to be more Nada Surf’s point.
Only the dreary “Killian’s Red,” full of minor chords and empty space, seems to have a positive view of love, saying, “I almost love this town / when I’m by your side.” Even then, the girl never walks into the bar where Nada Surf lead singer guitarist Matthew Caws is waiting alone.
The much more substantial sentiment seems to be that of a man, growing older, who hates seeing himself continue to slave for something he’s not sure he wants. “The Blizzard of ’77” accentuates the dark “shouldn’t have’s”.
“The Way You Wear Your Head” warns, “Don’t push me or I’ll fall in love / with whatever you just said.” The only really trite moment is during “Inside of Love,” which, despite its title, is more concerned with being outside of love. Caws muses, “I want to know what it’s like / on the inside of love / I can’t find a way in / I try again and again.”
That isn’t to say that Nada Surf can only mope. Let Go provides the first disco song that’s easy to listen to with “Speed of a Soul.” There are crunchy guitars, bouncy bass lines and the obligatory one, two, three and four of the drums. Meanwhile, Caws wails, “You talk to the ceiling every day / the speakers are shaking what do I hear you’re okay.”
The transition from verse to chorus rolls forward so naturally and irresistibly that you can forget about all the cheesy aspects. Still, the subject matter is bleak, mostly dealing with isolation and the isolation of others around the narrator, but you want to dance to it anyway.
Caws shines on the album’s slow songs. “Blonde on Blonde” is a beautiful piece that questions the place of the singer in a frenzied world punctuated with disembodied harmonies and passive energy. “I’ve got no time to lose / to people with something to prove / What can you do but let them talk / and make your way down the block.”
“Killian’s Red” is absolutely chilling, with arpeggiated chords and wandering bass lines. At its heart, “Killian’s Red” is a situation which is waiting to happen but doesn’t. It’s the hope for tomorrow being crushed, a theme represented metaphorically in songs like “Treading Water” and “Fruit Fly.”
Why Nada Surf has never found critical success is somewhat baffling. The group produces music palatable to the listener, poetic in form and innovative in construction. Overall, it’s a simply beautiful, melancholic sound with an angry edge to it. Yet the group has yet to achieve mainstream recognition after its ’90s hit single “Popular.”
Let Go is tentatively scheduled for a January release in the United States on Barsuk Records. Free tracks are available from Nada Surf’s website, www.nadasurf.com.
