Nada Surf - "Moon Mirror"
Cosmic maturation
Alt Rock/Power Pop group Nada Surf has been around for about thirty years now. The NYC-based band originally formed in 1992, and started releasing music in 1996. Their songs generally utilize a lot of poppy elements, but also contain traces of Surf Rock (and maybe a bit of Pop Punk here and there) and feel, broadly, very Indie without actually being Indie.
If that makes sense.1
Nada Surf stands out because their sound, and the way its mixed, contrasts pretty distinctly from most other artists. It doesn’t have the same style of production gloss. The bass (played by Daniel Lorca) actually sits refreshingly forward in the mix, making it feel well-grounded, which feels necessary as Matthew Caws’ tenor just kind of floats above everything in damn near every song. With their current lineup, Lorca and Caws are the only remaining original members, and Caws plays the only guitar. So, truly, the bass is doing a lot of lifting in a lot of songs, which is very atypical.
But the four-piece still manages to craft some deep and emotive songs on Moon Mirror.
Among them is, of course, the album’s title track, “Moon Mirror”. It’s the third track on the album, and the preceding songs (“Second Skin” and “In Front of Me Now”) have already begun to set a thematic tone. But “Moon Mirror” solidifies it; by the time the song is over, it’s clear that the album’s focal motifs are all about aging and maturing, seeking wisdom and perspective. “Moon Mirror” hits this from a contemplative angle, painting the image of staring up at the moon — the same moon which is visible to everybody, every day2 — and waxing philosophic or begging for some answer or spark of inspiration. It’s such a universally human thing, and using this song as the thematic crux of the album feels beautifully organic.
I really can’t — and don’t want to try to — describe the themes of the album at-large better than Matt Collar did in his review of the album for AllMusic:
“Rather than bemoan the passing of time and youth, Nada Surf lean into their age on Moon Mirror, imbuing each song with a poetic, transcendental quality, one largely centered on the themes of gratitude and being present in the moment.”
Each song approaches these themes with different observations and resolutions. “In Front of Me Now” is about taking the time to just enjoy life in the moment; “The One You Want” is about the continued work and effort of sustaining an important relationship; “Intel and Dreams” is about the give-and-take of having a space to yourself, versus having somebody to share it with.
There are no songs here that I dislike. There’s a moment early in “In Front of Me Now” where it begins to seem like it’ll be overly repetitive, but it passes as the song evolves and expands; most of the really intense repetition is in the structure of the lines of the early verses, where each line runs “I use to be…when I was…”, but this ends at about the 1:10 mark, and Caws’ lyrics begin to elaborate and build upon the meaning.
I’ll admit that on my initial, casual listen, I just thought it was good, but my opinion of the album has greatly improved with subsequent active listens. Musically and lyrically, Nada Surf has put in a lot of work on this album, and it really shows.
But this isn’t a big, flashy album. the songs are catchy and full of hooks, but not in the same way that, say Sabrina Carpenter’s or Taylor Swift’s albums this year were. There’s some subtlety here — the opening guitar lines for closing track “Floater” aren’t ‘hooky’, per se, but the haunting vibe is. And that’s how those lines (I wouldn’t call them riffs) are used, because they recur before the second verse to lure you back into that calm state before the song begins building toward its (and the album’s) ultimate conclusion.
I actually enjoyed Moon Mirror more than I expected — and I expected to like it. The songs are all good and interesting, and the band executed the core concept very well.
Rating: Blue
It probably doesn’t. But I do have to acknowledge that much of what is considered “Indie Rock/Pop/etc” isn’t technically “independent”, as the Labels caught onto the Indie sound a long time ago.
I don’t think Nada Surf qualifies as Indie Rock, but it has the aura of Indie Rock.
New moons and cloudy nights aside, of course.