Surfer Blood “Astro Coast” Review

It is strange hearing an album and having your first thought being “this is going to be big.” Some bands just give you the feeling that there is going to be a groundswell of support for them. Surfer Blood seems to have taken all of the right notes in compiling their sound to be that band. The vocals, sung with boyish charm by John Paul Pitts, have hints of Jim James’ (My Morning Jacket) space falsetto and really stand out behind the sweltering music created by the five piece Florida band. The music ventures into lo-fi hazy rock that randomly samples some of the best the genre has to offer, especially from many ’90s legends. The group also follows the Vampire Weekend path of incorporating the easily digestible portions of world music. Other sections have a My Morning Jacket/Band of Horses vibe when the reverb drenched guitars swell in bombastic glory.

The album starts with two of its strongest tracks, the dark and charging “Floating Vibes” and “Swim,” which was the first song I heard from the band and the track that really drew me in. The band dives into their world music kick with “Take it Easy,” and revisits the theme later in the album on the instrumental “Neighbor Riffs.” “Harmonix” is a sliding, mid tempo track that features, believe it or not, guitar harmonics backed by a bouncing bass line and up tempo drum beat. “Twin Peaks” finds Pitt’s echoed vocals backed by great guitar work. The next two songs would seem to be paired; “Fast Jabroni” is a great, buzzing song that really finds the band driving their sound forward while “Slow Jabroni” is a slower, more drawn out track that spreads it gloom and doom over songs six plus minute lifespan. A charging riff gives way to a more mundane song with “Anchorage,” which features such lifeless lines as “I don’t want to spin my wheels, I don’t got no wheels to spin.” The album closes out with the straightforward pop song “Catholic Pegasus,” which is a strong rebound from “Anchorage,” and has a strong feeling of loss, both in the somber lyrics and the darkly melodic music.

Astro Coast is a very strong debut album that has all of the makings of a band that is about to be heard by a large number of people. Like Cymbals Eat Guitar did earlier in the year, the band liberally take a pastiche of benchmark influences and adds their own dynamic to make a really strong record. Different people will hear different things when they hear Astro Coast, but I think it is safe to say a lot of people will like what they hear.

Also: Art Brut & Surfer Blood @ Triple Rock Social Club