Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

“We don’t want to be some sort of hype band. We kind of want to break the trend that’s been going on. After people stop blogging about them, it’s all over.”

So goes the manifesto of Floridian four-piece Surfer Blood, as outlined in an interview last October. Of course, that was before the annual CMJ industry schmooze-fest, where the band tore through a dozen gigs in the space of five days and had tweet-happy tipsters falling over themselves with excitement. Hell, we even added to the buzz back before Christmas. Since then, the new year has seen them go from not even having a Wikipedia listing to becoming the talk of the Pitchfork water cooler in the space of just a few short weeks. And now comes the release of debut album Astro Coast. So how’s that manifesto holding up?

Well, if there is to be a backlash, the band will at least have youth on their side. All four members are still in their early twenties, and there’s a definite nervy, wet-behind-the-ears feel to the opening brace of ‘Floating Vibes’ and recent single ‘Swim (To Reach The End)’. The latter’s shouted chorus, in particular, is about as subtle as a Bud Light-swilling teen at a basement keg party, and the song grows tired after more than a few listens. But as the album progresses, so too does the band’s sound. ‘Harmonix’ is a steady grower, singer JP Pitts’ bummed-out vocal getting washed away by a wave of echoing distortion just as the chorus kicks in. Better still, ‘Twin Peaks’ is a chiming power-pop gem about getting up to no good at the video store. But it’s the closing trio of ‘Slow Jabroni’, ‘Anchorage’ and ‘Catholic Pagans’ that give the album real substance and leave this listener wanting more. ‘Anchorage’ packs a particular punch, Pitts looking to flee relationship burn-out by relocating to the Alaskan wilderness. ‘Catholic Pagans’, meanwhile, sounds like a surf-pop Shins bringing Senior Prom to a close – which is a good thing, incidentally.

At a time when buzz bands seem to come and go in the time it takes for you to clap your hands and say yeah, Surfer Blood have delivered a refreshingly uncontrived, straight-up fun college rock album. Sure, the Weezer/Pavement/Built To Spill comparisons are hard to avoid, but any whingeing about influences would only serve to dampen the sense of riff-fuelled exuberance. Here’s hoping Astro Coast helps them break that aforementioned trend.