February 22, 2008

Nada Surf

Lucky

7 / 10 Ironically, it’s often when the commercial pressure is off that a band produces its best work. When there are no stressed-out A&R men at the door demanding to hear ‘the hit’ and no megabucks producers hired to provide some mythical gold-dust, the magic tends to happen. Bummer, right? After a dozen dizzying years trying to master the corporate waltz, ‘Lucky’ finds this Brooklyn trio coming to some kind of resolution. Matthew Caws may sigh, “Behind every desire/Is another one” on the Flaming Lips-esque ‘Weightless’, or drawl “Haven’t all the answers/Still sitting the test” on the Big Star-ish ‘Whose Authority’ like a man looking for the answers to the cosmic conundrum in the cracks in the pavement. Such is the band’s melodic power the sensation is like slipping into a warm bath rather than eavesdropping by the psychiatrist’s chair.

Paul Moody

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7.5

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