Nada Surf: The Weight Is A Gift : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Nada Surf understand the sound of melancholy. Matthew Caws knows how to take a fragile bit of New York guitar buzz and let it reverberate slowly in the background, surrounding one of his bewitching minor-key melodies, propelling the tune along with urgent strums. The lyrics are sharp, but they're never the point of the song -- instead, they're just there to provide Caws' voice with a bit of shelter as the song builds all around him. The band's tunes achieve a kind of sleight-of-hand majesty, but Nada Surf never sound like they're trying too hard. How do they do it? Like their last album, 2003's Let Go, The Weight Is a Gift is a top-notch collection of sad-eyed guitar ballads such as "Always Love." The prize is "Do It Again," with overdubbed Beach Boys harmonies enfolding the crackle of the guitars in a plea for tenderness, Nada Surf-style.