Friday, September 23, 2005
The Weight is a Gift
. . . is the title of the new Nada Surf album. It's right up there. What's struck me is how they've changed from their first record, which gave them one-hit-wonder status because of the single, "Popular". They've mellowed with each album. But the lyrics have also improved and they no longer sound like a garage band trying to grind out an easy melody as hard as they can because it's all they can do.
There's a guy I know who sends out a monthly "newsletter" -- we'll call him "Mean Joe" -- who should buy this album. He's been on some introspection-what-is-love kick. And he wrote this long explanation that eventually led to: "to find someone you love, you've gotta be someone you love". Well, he phrased it a little differently. The above quotation is the Nada Surf lyric that closely resembles Mean Joe's attitude.
I happen to not disagree with that sentiment; I just think there's a bit more to it, and again Nada Surf comes to the rescue with the final line of the first song -- "to find someone to love, you've gotta call your own bluff". That, to me, it much more important than the former lyric. But that's just me.
I've got another friend -- we'll call him Li'l Davy Lee -- who may like the album. We used to have a philosophy called "Fuck it". The essential idea of stated philosophy was a happy, drunken, untruthful version of nihilism. Good ol' Nada Surf comes through again in a song entitled "Blankest Year". Their lyric: "Oh, fuck it. I'm gonna have a party." And it's not so much the brilliant lyric that strikes me. It's that they harmonize to "Oh, fuck it." Yes. I can see this song not working for a lot of people. And that's OK. But to this listener, any band that decides to harmonize to my ethos . . . hat's off, boys.
There's a guy I know who sends out a monthly "newsletter" -- we'll call him "Mean Joe" -- who should buy this album. He's been on some introspection-what-is-love kick. And he wrote this long explanation that eventually led to: "to find someone you love, you've gotta be someone you love". Well, he phrased it a little differently. The above quotation is the Nada Surf lyric that closely resembles Mean Joe's attitude.
I happen to not disagree with that sentiment; I just think there's a bit more to it, and again Nada Surf comes to the rescue with the final line of the first song -- "to find someone to love, you've gotta call your own bluff". That, to me, it much more important than the former lyric. But that's just me.
I've got another friend -- we'll call him Li'l Davy Lee -- who may like the album. We used to have a philosophy called "Fuck it". The essential idea of stated philosophy was a happy, drunken, untruthful version of nihilism. Good ol' Nada Surf comes through again in a song entitled "Blankest Year". Their lyric: "Oh, fuck it. I'm gonna have a party." And it's not so much the brilliant lyric that strikes me. It's that they harmonize to "Oh, fuck it." Yes. I can see this song not working for a lot of people. And that's OK. But to this listener, any band that decides to harmonize to my ethos . . . hat's off, boys.
