Surfer Blood are a band hailing from West Palm Beach, with many of the members still being in their early twenties. Their debut album Astro Coast, is a album chock full of catchy, summery indie songs. Recorded in their freshman dorm room at college on instruments paid for by scholarship money having quit the studio because they didn’t like the way the engineer affected their sound. I should be quick to point out that these are no surfer kids, the name just a product of random yelling out by one of the band members.

I won’t lie, I bought this album on a whim! I was not disappointed; this is fun record. It’s joyful and catchy – it has a vitality brought about through jangly guitars and great rhythms. There is a definite psychedelic feel, as seems to be the case with a lot of records these days. What’s unusual about this album is that it sounds so familiar yet unique. But first and foremost it’s a guitar album – with some helluva catchy vocal hooks. Those vocals, being one of the strongest elements of the record, they stand out from the instrumentation, but when necessary blend in and weave themselves around it. My favourite tracks are opener ‘Floating Vibes’ a track full of atmospheric reverb and floating vocals. ‘Neighbour Riffs’ is another favourite, an instrumental track with world music touches provides a nice change of pace.

This is a really strong debut album, a record which gives the sense of a band with potential. I fully expect Surfer Blood to get bigger over the coming year and beyond; and based on this album they fully deserve it. Astro Coast is out now on Kanine Records, I wholeheartedly recommend you get a copy and give them a try.

Review Score: 8/10