Nada Surf have managed a couple of feats in their two-decade-long career that might make any indie rock band envious: They broke out with a ubiquitous (if novelty) hit on MTV and alt-rock radio at a time when those were still the only channels by which to do so and, perhaps more importantly, they quietly outlived that popularity to score a second act as sweetly unassuming indie rock underdogs.
On 2002's Barsuk release Let Go, Nada Surf re-emerged as the little brother to label-mates Death Cab For Cutie-- the sophomoric 1990s angst swapped out for more deliberate melodies and softer arrangements both timely, as that brand of indie rock was beginning to take over, and timeless. A decade later, soft-touch "indie adult contemporary" has become 2011's agreed-upon national wallpaper, and Nada Surf are attempting to make some noise.
Noting that they've "always played faster and a little harder live," frontman Matthew Caws and crew set out to capture the raw, excited feel of a practice-room jam session with seventh album The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy, the followup to the 2010's If I Had a Hi-Fi. They come out of the gate strong with the distorted guitar crunch and shimmying hi-hats of "Clear Eye Clouded Mind". The song's energizing pre-chorus almost sounds like Thermals-lite, with lines that start at the end of each measure and wrap around to the next, always landing on that initial "I."
The album is upbeat throughout, especially by Nada Surf standards, with the rhythm section propelling several songs. But maybe "recapture" is a more precise word for the urge behind Astronomy's liveliness. Multiple songs dwell on feelings of disillusionment and lost youth. "When I Was Young" recounts the banal minutes of a day over willowy finger picking before the song swells and Caws wonders, "When I was young... what was that world I was dreaming of?" "Let the Fight Do the Fighting" cautions, "You're gonna wish that you were young again/ You're gonna wish that it was fun/ You're gonna wanna have someone again." Most troublesome, though, might be "Teenage Dreams", the nth iteration of that song title in recent memory, whose chorus, "It's never too late for teenage dreams," comes dangerously close to the realm of "30 Rock" parody.
These are larger existential longings than pining for another cross-over hit, of course, but they feed into an idea of the band as past its prime-- which is strange, since Nada Surf seem so comfortable coasting. Caws' voice is still light and feathery, the band members are all nimble enough musicians, and songs such as "Waiting for Something" touch the same dull sweet spot that's secretly tickled by, say, the Gin Blossoms' radio hits. But for all its adeptness of craft and attempts at revitalization, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy still feels like an album with precious little at stake. The songs are fine but largely feckless, and what could be an animating contrast between glum lyrics and upbeat music is too often hobbled by clunkers both generic ("I am lost in my mind when you go to sleep") and specific (something about tarot cards). At a moment when indie rock could probably use a little kick in the ass, Nada Surf seem to have the right instincts, just maybe not the spleen to pull them off. Harder and faster isn't necessarily a young man's game, but it isn't really Nada Surf's either.
