Nada Surf
The Proximity Effect
(MarDev/The Great Utopia)

     To refresh the ailing memories of you one-hit wonderers out there, yes, Nada Surf was the band that released the hit single “Popular” back in the more hale and hearty days of the now-crumbling Alternative Nation.  What you may not know is that the New York-based trio has spent the past two years locked in record label limbo, at odds with the proverbial fat, bald men at Elektra who desired more radio-friendly fare than the deep, emotionally raw sophomore album that Nada Surf handed them.
     Fortunately for fans of thoughtful, eloquently crafted rock, The Proximity Effect is now available far and wide, bringing a much more mature and focused band back to the fore.
The Proximity Effect represents a marked growth for the band whose spare guitar/bass/drums approach to songwriting is a breath of fresh air in this era of turntables and rapping midgets.  Anchored firmly to Ira Elliot’s propulsive drums, Matthew Caws’ lo-fi guitars grate against one another above Daniel Lorca’s essential, Beatle-like basslines.  The melodies, omnipresent and often haunting, linger over classic Nada Surf skewed arpeggios, all of which are tied together by Caws’ pure, plaintive vocals.
     Caws addresses a wide range of subject matter in his clever-yet-honest lyrics.  In the closing lines of “80 Windows,” he cunningly summarizes the song’s theme of alienation by confessing, “The moon is closer to the sun/ Than I am to anyone.”  Perhaps more poignantly, Caws challenges rapists on the raucous “Mother’s Day” and the chilling “Robot,” in a manner that seems all too personal.  “You are just a robot,” he sings, “an imitation of a man.”
     To say that Elektra showed a remarkable amount of shortsightedness would be an understatement.

By Casey Lombardo
Long Beach Union

Originally printed 9/25/00

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