Review
Stealing from others in rock is built into the music’s DNA, though people mistakenly assume that cancels out originality. The unfortunately named Surfer Blood puts the lie to that misassumption again. The quintet coats its debut in waves of reverb from its native West Palm Beach, Fla. to the epic Alaskan rocker “Anchorage,” hitting on a wealth of influences to come up with a startlingly fresh 10-song set. For all the record’s ambitious mash-ups, there aren’t many missteps, and every time you think you’ve cornered its influences, Surfer Blood slips from your sight down some other semi-familiar-sounding corridor. “Swim” is a fascinating concoction that brazenly borrows the chord progression from VU’s “Sweet Jane,” but runs it through Cheap Trick’s arena-sized Marshall stacks and Phil Spector layers of production to steer it from plagiarism into clever tribute. “Take It Easy” takes the current fetish for afro-beats and turns it inside out, using those eighth-note guitar runs like a pointillist to paint a love song that revels in its big poppy chorus rather than runs from it, and “Twin Peaks” also borrows from afro sources without engaging in musical colonialism, tucking a short section of polyrhythm into Weezer-sized barre chords. The two Jabronis (“Fast Jabroni” and “Slow Jabroni”) turn to Jesus & Mary Chain guitar fuzz, the chooglin’ version creating a near Pixies vibe and the latter unfurling into an epic shoegaze crescendo. Singer John Paul Pitts’ falsetto fits nicely with the deep reverb, though an unfortunate but thankfully brief near-Rap at the end nearly sinks “Slow Jabroni.” But it’s an error of commission – like the too-obvious stolen harmonics from the Fixx’s “Saved By Zero,” on “Harmonix” – that’s easy to forgive given the strength of everything else. The highlights here are stunning, like the Joy Division-at-double-speed instrumental “Neighbor Riffs,” the Swervedriver/Shins pop cocktail “Floating Vibes,” and “Anchorage,” whose sludgy intro develops into a thumping, cathartic rocker whose repetition reaffirms the band’s mastery of dynamics. “I don’t want to spin my wheels, I don’t want to let it all hang out/I just want volcanoes to erupt and thaw me out,” Pitts sings, expressing a young thinking person’s need for elusive transcendence beyond the usual alcohol or substance buzz. It’s a refreshing narrative take to match a set of epic pop songs buzzing with the excitement of discovery and the promise of rock & roll liberation.
-John Schacht

Surfer Blood performed at Amoeba San Francisco on April 1, 2010. Watch video.