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1/30: Seattle, WA @ Triple Door[1] 1/31: Portland, OR@ Doug Fir[1] 2/02: SF, CA @ Swedish American Hall[1] 2/07: Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 2/08: New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 3/17 – 3/29 – Little Ones support 4/1 – 4/13 – What Made Milwaukee Famous support w/ the exception of NYC 3/17: Tempe, AZ @ Clubhouse 3/18: San Diego, CA @ House of Blues 3/19: LA CA @ Henry Fonda Theater 3/21: Pomona, CA @ Glass House 3/22: San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore 3/25: Sacramento, CA @ Harlow's 3/28: Seattle, WA @ Showbox at The Market 3/29:Vancouver,CA@Commodore Ballroom 4/01: Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre 4/02: Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room 4/03: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue 4/04: Chicago, IL @ Metro 4/05: Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall 4/07: Toronto, CA @ Opera House 4/8: Montreal, CA @ Club Soda 4/10: Boston, MA @ Paradise 4/11: New York, NY @ Terminal 5 4/12: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 4/13: Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero [1] w/ Port O'Brien - Acoustic |
At first listen, Nada Surf’s fifth album , Lucky, which is to be released in the United States on February 5, 2008, on Barsuk Records, sounds like an easy –going great bunch of harmonious indie songs. When you really listen and focus on the lyrics though, you hear that each song tells a story of something deep and honest, filled with images of restlessness and conflicting desires, longing, mortality, renewal, hope, excitement of parenthood, family history, and the elusiveness of love. What makes this album so desirable beyond the lyrics is the blend of uplifting music complimenting singer/guitarist Matthew Caws emotional voice which brings these songs together as purely blissful. The honesty in his voice makes you really feel for the stories being sung, while bassist Daniel Lorca and drummer Ira Elliot add in the essentials that carry these songs and make them sound so alive and beautiful. No wonder these guys have been together for thirteen years strong.
"I tend to be pretty hopeful about things further in the future, but full of anxiety about the next eight hours…I think I'm manic depressive without the mania. Yet I'm ready to be cheerful at the drop of a reason. I’m always looking for rapture in music." Caws jokes.
I can tell this album was really well produced. It just has that great sound quality to it. Nada Surf co-produced and John Goodmanson (Death Cab For Cutie, Sleater Kinney, Blonde Redhead) did an amazing job producing, mixing, and engineering this masterpiece.
According to their MySpace page, The first song on the album, See These Bones, was inspired by a visit Caws made a few years back to the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks in Rome, who created a macabre but stirring environmental sculpture from the bones of their departed brethren. Caws says, “It’s a chilling place. Seeing all those old bones up close really drives home that this is it – and you better make the most of your life. Ultimately, it’s uplifting. I left there in a bizarrely good mood.” Joining them on this song is Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie, and Harvey Danger’s Sam Nelson.
A few other guests on the album include English singer-pianist Ed Harcourt, on “Weightless” and “Beautiful Beat”, which are two really great songs with strong lyrics and upbeat tunes, and John Roderick, on “Ice on the Wing”. – which references Caws’ family lore: his grandfather’s adventures as a fighter pilot and an ambulance driver in two world wars and his father’s rearing in (and escape/excommunication from) a British religious cult.
One of the other really catchy songs inspired from the beginnings of a long awaited romance , “I Like What You Say” uses clever lyrics -
“They say if you’re not lonely being alone
Boy there is something wrong”
Also from MySpace - “The Fox” melds the personal and the political, the delusions in a relationship mirroring lies from the government. The image in the chorus – “On the grass at Beachy Head/On the cliff to which you’ve been led” – almost pilfers the scene in the Who’s Quadrophenia when protagonist Jimmy launches his scooter off the enormous grassy cliff on the Southern English coast: Caws says “We visited Beachy Head when I was a kid and I remember standing on the slope and sensing that if I took two or three more steps down the soft grass, I would just tumble off. I remember feeling like I was standing right next to death.”
Two songs on Lucky reminded me of nostalgic 60’s and 70’s folk songs , very much Beatlesque as well. The closer, “The Film Did Not Go ‘Round” , written by indie singer Greg Peterson, is haunting of lost love and spooky enough reminds me of The Beatles “Yesterday”.
Nada Surf is going to be on tour to coincide with the release of Lucky.
For more on Nada Surf , check out their website www.nadasurf.com
01/27/2008 09:05:26 Kristine my♥posts 
www.nadasurf.com
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