Album Review: Nada Surf - 'Never Not Together'
Veteran Indie Rockers, Nada Surf are about to release their ninth studio album. ‘Never Not Together’ and joins a solid discography. From High/Low’s distortion and angst to more reserved records such as Let Go and The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. I remember essentially watching this record happen via instagram stories from frontman Matthew Caws, showing the band holed up in Rockfield Studios and exploring the Welsh countryside. Now it’s here and the waiting has paid off.
So Much Love opens the record with a steady beat and a ringing key line. In true Nada Surf fashion things soon build up to a big, bold chorus. It’s an optimistic track that really sets the tone for the record. It’s sound is somehow both grand and reserved, selling its own brand of optimism. Come Get Me follows with acoustic guitars strumming away. Wild synths occasionally disrupt the songs organic texture, somehow feeling alien yet perfectly at home within the arrangement. As the song progresses to it’s bridge there’s an increased sense of urgency. Caws’ voice multiplies it’s cries of “I’m Ready” and guitars and synths start going off everywhere. These two tracks introduce the two sides of this record’s coin early on.
Just Wait opens with an acoustic riff that, on its own, seems to channel some residual energy Oasis left in Rockfield Studios all those years ago. It soon launches into something different entirely. The riff is now framed against drums, bass, guitars and more that give it a new context. The new elements smooth out the arrangement in a way that accompanies the lyrics and their reassurances for teenagers past and present. It’s become a fast favourite of mine on this record.
Looking For You is another track with an ear catching open. A choir kicks this one off until almost a minute in when Caws and his guitar take back the lead. The rest of the band joins soon after with creeping little, curious melodies. These resolve into more certain sounding lines before flipping back. These flips play off of the lyrical content of big metaphors and self reflection. Another voice joins in and then the song explodes into one of the best choruses I’ve heard from Nada Surf (a title with many nominations). The reassuring refrain of “what you’re looking for looking for you” perfectly resolves all the songs previous, almost existential, pondering. A guitar solo comes out of the chorus, trailing and tailing over the swaggering instrumental. We’re back into another chorus and somehow it’s gotten bigger. Then we’re back into another solo, this one reportedly by frequent collaborator Doug Gillard. The track winds down and the organ fades and you only then realise it was an almost six minute song.
Penultimate track, Mathilda starts with a completely different sound. Quiet, folky acoustic guitars draw us in and Caws is right there in front of us reflecting on childhood memories. Strings fade out and electric guitars chime in. The now more electric song lurches along in it’s non standard time signature. The lyrics within this section contextualise the earlier recited memories within discussion of masculinity. This section’s alien feel helps sell those themes of uncertainty around masculinity. It switches up into a new section, somewhere between the intro and the main one. While the intro seemed to recount experiences and the second seemed to explore around those experiences, this section seems to reflect. Pondering if things can change, suggesting why they haven’t and even theorising why those who fight against change fight so hard. The whole track forms a musical manifesto on masculinity that is above all else a great journey of a song.
The record closes with Ride In The Unknown. It drives along while it’s lyrics talk about making the journey into the unknown that closing tracks sometimes are, optimistic stabs towards what may come next but is as of yet unplanned. Instrumentally it’s not necessarily your standard driving rock song. Strange rising noises, maybe synth, maybe guitar, reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine adorn the song. The songs gradual fade-out is a nice embodiment of the tracks title.
Time no object I would have gone into every song on this record in depth. Live Learn & Forget with it’s twinkling key lines, the jangling distortion of Something I Should Do and the floating Crowded Star. Each song has its own textures and themes that really set it apart. Reading how this record’s roots lie in the band’s 15th anniversary tour for 2002’s Let Go made a lot of sense to me. Never Not Together, to my ears anyway, has a lot in common with that record. The detail that the songs on this record were intensely demoed also makes a lot of sense with the intricate arrangements that many of these songs sport. There’s plenty here to encourage repeated listens. If you’re a fan of Nada Surf, this record encapsulates their highlights for me. If you’re new to the band this is a good starting point, it seems to roll together elements of their earlier sound into the sound they’ve moved toward with recent albums making it a balanced starting point.
Never Not Together releases February 7th and the band are touring the UK and Europe in support of the record.
Words by Nathan Blackstone