Published on Feb 7, 2006
I wanted to like this album. I really, really did. I
fell in love with the endearingly simple “Always Love” after
hearing it on the radio one afternoon and immediately grabbed the
nearest Post-It to scribble down snippets of the lyrics. One search
on Google and 99 cents to iTunes (yes, I download legally!) later,
the single became an instant favorite of mine, although I had
absolutely no knowledge of the band behind it.
So, fast forward a bit in our captivating story.
After having “Always Love” on repeat for weeks on end, the hype
more or less forced me to track down The Weight Is A Gift,
Nada Surf’s fourth full-length release after a three year absence.
My first clue should’ve been that the album had already been tossed
into the discount pile at a normally insanely overpriced music
store.
The album does have its high points, like hidden gem
“What Is Your Secret” and the subdued sincerity of “Comes A Time,”
but the rest of the material never remains solid enough to keep my
attention. Numerous tracks are barely distinguishable from others,
blending into one mishmash featuring all too predictable lyrics
like “You gotta be someone you love / to find someone you love”
from “Concrete Bed”. Even the band seem to have lost interest,
proclaiming, “Oh, fuck it / I’m gonna have a party” at least five
times in “Blankest Year” barely even after reaching the halfway
point of The Weight Is A Gift.
For Nada Surf, who made themselves known on witty,
stand-out tracks like their breakthrough hit “Popular”, the
material on this disc does their previous work no justice. It ends
up just meandering along for almost an hour without ever really
making any discernible point. While some tracks start off
promisingly, like in the oddly monikered “Your Legs Grow,” they end
up losing steam and falling flat by the end.
The Weight Is A Gift is by no means an awful
album. It’s the type of disc you’ll listen to a few times, pass
around to your friends and never really find yourself caring either
way if it ultimately gets lost in the shuffle. It’s decent, but
mediocre, which is always an ominous sign for a still relatively
up-and-coming band.