Album Review: Lucky by Nada Surf

If Fountains of Wayne create snarky power pop songs for Friday evenings, then Nada Surf is the band for Sunday afternoons. They've grown more emotive over the years, having replaced the sarcasm of 1996's "Popular" with a grown-up focus on pop songcraft and mellow instrumentation. And they've been lucky, too -- lucky in that their audience has remained, their (once rocky) label situation has steadied, and their chops have improved.

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Nada Surf play the Opera House April 7. Rating: NNNN If any successful mid-90s band can consider themselves lucky, it’s Nada Surf. The group had a huge hit in 1996 with the shoegazing alt-rock hit Popular, and then were unceremoniously dumped by their major label. Somehow the band survived, and despite being nearly 40, they’re writing the best music of their lives.

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Nada Surf's fifth album reveals a few new tricks up the New York trio's sleeve. They're growing up. More than just another indie-pop album, Lucky is deeply reflective – age has a way of doing that to a body – even a little optimistic. Opener "See These Bones" is a poignant and ultimately cheerful song about facing one's mortality, while "Beautiful Beat" starts out like an upbeat popper until singer Matthew Caws pipes up with, "Leave me alone, and no one will get hurt." His narrator finds redemption in music's sweet spot in order to pull himself out of his near-midlife crisis.

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