Surfer Blood: "Miranda"

Florida power-poppers Surfer Blood broke out with last year’s Astro Coast, a charming, upbeat debut announcing a band who, though not exactly brimming with originality, had fresh energy and a knack for indelibly catchy songwriting. In fact, it’s this very freshness that sets Surfer Blood apart from their obvious influences: Weezer (who ceased being fresh, or even aspiring to freshness, long, long, long ago). However, freshness is fleeting; sooner or later a band has to dig deep and find a voice. Just ask Weezer, who’d probably have no idea what you’re talking about.

“Miranda,” the first single from the band’s forthcoming Tarot Classics EP, is a shiny-slick track, bouncy and exuberant but veering uncomfortably close to mechanical. Needless to say, it’s a lot of fun; satisfying semi-crunchy guitars and a basic singalong melody butress what amounts to one of those classic, if a little generic, retro-leaning “girl’s name” songs the Beach Boys perfected. Even “Miranda“’s opening plea—“Help me out, Miranda”—echoes “Help Me, Rhonda,” this time with more bravado, more guitar, less sadness. Influences don’t stop there: aside from the specter of a certain grunge leg-job new-jack, the Strokes seem to take over the bridge, and singer John Paul Pitts emits a blithe Morrissey croon.

But Surfer Blood’s debt to their influences shouldn’t be a problem—that is, if it weren’t for how in “Miranda” they seem to be taking it a little too easy (natch), glossing over any discernible emotion, failing to show any cracks that might endear them to us. Basically, they’re still a young band and they’re not stretching—perhaps for now they’re content with hooks and that always welcome summery sound. Which is fine. But I’d love to hear Surfer Blood go out on a limb, to try on something new, because something tells me their current position in the respectable pop zone, just below the Blue but above the Red, will begin to chafe before long.