This writer's only previous signpost for NADA SURF was the US East Coast trio's excellent 1996 single "Popular": a damning and only initially gimmicky attack on social mores for Frat boys.
That was enough to whet the appetite, but the good news is that "Let Go" is infinitely more satisfying, revealing reserves of ideas to spare and the sense that there are still plenty of new hoops for ye olde guitar, bass and drums to jump through, whatever the critics say.
"Let Go" is a consistently excellent listen that hardly ever fails to deliver. The opening "Blizzard Of '77" initially trips you up, as it's a strident, scrubbed acoustics'n'harmonies effort, with viscerally good images. Its' allure sparkles dramatically with repeated exposure, though, and most of what follows impinges quickly on your consciousness.
So what's on offer? Well, for instant fizzing caffeine hits, try "The Way You Wear Your Head", which demonstrates that NADA SURF have a firm grip on Buzzcocks-style racy pop; or "Inside Of Love", where they prove they're equally adept at smouldering, swaying choruses and can sound dignified even in the presence of cheesy lyrics ("getting spacier than an astronaut"); or "Blonde On Blonde", when they make sounding plaintive and melancholy seem as natural as breathing. I can't decide if it's a Dylan tribute or not, but when it's this intriguing, like who cares, anyway?
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"Hi-Speed Soul,"though, seems like the key track here. It's the one where they trade big riffs with icy, New Order-style keyboards, handclaps and disco rhythms and still come up smelling of roses. The fact that the insistently melodic "No Quick Fix" and the dramatic sheen of "Killian's Red" follow directly in its' slipstream don't hurt either.
NADA SURF play to their own sonic strengths here, and prove happily that there is space for intelligent harmony pop life between Weezer's sometimes annoying campus-isms and Guided By Voices' resolutely left-field stance. "Let Go" does sometimes tug on the classic US power-pop bell rope, but NADA SURF'S refreshingly edgy sound drops heavy hints that - when done with this kind of panache - great guitar pop has plenty of distance left to run.
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