Album Review: Jekyll Island by Surf City

Here's a pro tip for any band aspiring to be good. When you find a sound that works, stick with it. Maybe tweak it a bit here, scruff it up there, but make sure you stay true to the core. This is a lesson that Surf City have learned; their third album, Jekyll Island, is proof. After hitting the ….

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As its title implies, there’s a battle raging on Jekyll Island, the third full-length from Kiwi psychgaze foursome Surf City. Opener “Beat the Summer Heat” practically shimmers on the pavement, a loping groove and Davin Stoddard’s mantra-like vocals summoning a beer koozy and beach chair. Properly chillaxed, the boys then go from Jekyll to Hyde and reveal their pop chops (and Britrock knowledge) with a handful of winning, Johnny-Marr-by-way-of-Felt janglers – “Spec City”, “Hollow Veins”, “One Too Many Things”, and the winking, penultimate track, “The End”.

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If the surf rock/pop scene of a few years ago hasn’t sunk completely without trace it certainly seemed to go in and out with the tide of fashion, but Auckland’s Surf City are still riding the wave. Their particular trippy, introspective version blends psychedelia with shoegazing to produce ‘psychgazing’, so that the overall effect of listening to their music is to feel like you are floating away on a beach as the sun streams down. Their retro sound may seem to hark back to a ’60s California of The Beach Boys and The Byrds, but it is really filtered through more recent bands such as The Jesus And Mary Chain and Brian Jonestown Massacre as well as lo fi outfits Yo La Tengo and Pavement, not to mention Kiwi record label Flying Nun’s artists like The Clean.

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