If there was any evidence of Vampire Weekend at this year’s SXSW, it was in the West Palm Beach, Florida’s Surfer Blood.
Not that Surfer Blood were doing Upper East Side Soweto or anything – the fuzzy pop was more reminiscent of Weezer and the 90s sounds that seem to be sweeping through new music right now. It was more just the showing up as they did.
Surfer Blood took the stage at Mohawks with all the swagger of a group of well-kept, upstanding young men from the quiet beachfront community of West Palm Beach, Florida. That’s because that’s what they are. Atypical in a genre which generally does not value privilege as a band bio.
Trumpeting the fact they hail from West Palm Beach in a punk club seems only possible in this post-VW, throw-conceptions-of-authenticity-out-the-window atmosphere. It’s like announcing, “Hey, we’re from good families and live comfortable lifestyles! Here’s a song!”
Being OK with their non-edgy upbringing is a trait most recently put forward by Vampire Weekend, but the similarities didn’t necessarily end there. The music was unabashedly sunny. The band unabashedly geeky.
The began their hit, Swim (To Reach To The End), but restarted it after scarf-clad lead singer/band mastermind JP Pitts wasn’t happy with the sound. On the last song of the last set on the last day of the festival, I think this showed a little bit of naiveté – most bands in this festival would just play through, or are too cool to care in the first place.
Surfer Blood appear to be part of a minimovement in music where there’s more enthusiasm in playing the set and less invested into style and attitude. Sort of anti-punk. But if better songs ends up as a consequence, then why not?[rssbreak]
