maybe this weight was a gift...

My weekly music article I write for the Herald Journal, the local newspaper, is due very soon, if not now. I'm slightly irritated in that most of the flair and personality gets edited out of my articles anyway not to mention not being inspired for writing a music article for people who likely have no idea about what I'm speaking. And I have nowhere to go with it. I think I'm just particularly uninspired at the moment, and I feel rather bad about it for Nada Surf.

Nada Surf, being the band whom I'm writing about this week. I've recently fallen in love with the band's 2005 album The Weight Is A Gift and I've been a fan of High/Low since I, along with the rest of the masses, came to know them thanks to their hit single "Popular".

Out of the blue I decided I really wanted to get to know their material better and finally synced their newest album onto my iPod. I love it. They've completely shed the 90's alt-rock and have evolved a sound more in the vein of Death Cab For Cutie with a little bit more of a rock bounce to them at times.

I think one of my favorite qualities about them are the lyrics. They're simple (sometimes extremely so) , yet poignant and poetic. Matthew Caws definitely has a poet's vocabulary, but often he simply carefully chooses his words instead of using ten dollar adjectives.

Nada Surf's songs unfold as a collection of personal tales told through an introspective lens by a bemused narrator. More importantly, their songs can be more applicable to anyone than most bands today. A number of artists still sing from the particular perspective of a young mind. Matthew Caws writings can be equally appreciated by those in high school, in post-grad confusion, or in the midst of a midlife crisis.

My favorite track is relatively short, and I think it's my favorite right now because I feel where the song's coming from. It's called "Blankest Year." It's a recollection of having a strange, terrible or exhausting year (all three apply to 2007 so far), but then ends with "Oh, fuck it. I'm gonna have a party." I love the sentiment, and especially because "fuck it" has this amazing background vocal harmony going on. It's positively delightful. And I'm certainly feeling the "Oh, fuck it."

I've been down a bit. Last week through me for a bit of a loop. It began promising, extremely promising, but it ended up being akin to those Road Runner cartoons where the tunnel entrance is painted on a giant bolder, leading to your running face first into the rock at top speed.

Ugh.

Back to Nada Surf. Another thing I like about them is the fact that the music doesn't sound so uniform. A lot of bands tighten their sound to where all the instruments work on the same melody. Very little deviation occurs, which isn't terrible but can lead to future listens playing a bit stale.

Nada Surf's instrumentation feels more organic. Every instrument plays its own integral part to the overall melody, but the song never feels it's formed by a rigid marching band structure that dictates every note the band plays. This method allows creates a real atmosphere, allowing the listener to fully appreciate the band's effort.

The more I think about and listen to Nada Surf, the more I'm considering going to their show at the Orange Peel in Asheville instead of the They Might Be Giants show. It's still weighing in my head, so we'll see.

And I think I just inadvertently, wrote most of my Nada Surf article. Bitchin.