Somewhere between protopunk, sad surf noise rock, and midwest-emo-by-way of Manchester, Surfing Pointers enchant and entrance on their melancholic, melodic, and sporadically dissonant self-titled EP.
Like a Christopher Nolan film, the record begins with “In The End”. The soft dual vocals deliver thought-provoking lines like “and I need your name, ‘cuz I don’t know mine anymore” and are beautifully contrasted by the group’s mix of grungy guitar chords and trebly leads. The track simultaneously breaks your heart and gives you new hope as you sing along with the chorus’s “wahoo, wahoo” and bob to the rhythmic sway of distorted guitars and minimalist drumming.
The impactful way the wobbly clean guitars interplay with the distorted riffs, as do the dual lead vocalists, makes each song its own little venture. The shoegazy surf rock of “Far Out” is a great example of the dynamic shifts between waves of grizzly guitar noises and quiet, stark passages that feel like the calm eye of a storm before another gail of instrumental guitar solos. The band fully leans into instrumental territory on “S.Y. song”, which paints another meditative soundscape of guitars and some intermittent synth noises.
The EP ends on a darker note with the 5-minute long noise rock dirge “Losing Contact”. This track is the most dissonant on the tracklist with plenty of guitar feedback and chaotic guitar notes, squeals, and shrieks. A slow bass, drum, and vocal build the track’s middle section and you can feel the kinetic energy piling up before one final noisy coda crashes into the record’s final goodbye.
Surfing Pointers is available digitally via BIRTHDIY records.
Written by John Brouk
