Album review: Surf City transports listeners to beach in 'We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This'

To those gripping on to the last sounds of summer, look no further than appropriately named band, Surf City.

“We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This,” the New Zealand surf-rock group’s second album, was released Aug. 19, three years after the band’s debut album “Kudos” released in 2010.

Transporting listeners to a modernized beach party, the band provides 1960-esque melodies with interesting track titles such as “Song from a Short-Lived TV Series” and “I Had the Starring Role.”

The album is mainly instrumentally driven, with vocals only present in portions of each song. The use of reverb throughout the album is used well, both on some of the instrumentals and on lead singerDavin Stoddard’s fluctuated singing.

At the start of the track “No Place to Go,” the guitar and instrumentals are played with echo, sounding like it is playing in the distance. As drums and another guitar melody are added, the song breaks into a peppy pace, changing the tone by making it less dreamlike and more like a song you can move and dance to.

“Oceanic Graphs of the Wilderness,” toward the end of the album, was my favorite track. The song starts heavy on bass mixed with a tempered drum beat. Stoddard’s vocals are then added in, sounding like they were put through a Leslie speaker. This created a cool collaboration with the instruments and reminded me of music from the late 1960s. “Blue Jay Way” by The Beatles comes to mind.

As a fan of music from the 1960s, I found the album enjoyable. The music is reminiscent of the surf-rock genre, holding its own against other surf-rock artists such as the Beach Boys and Dick Dale.

Although summer is coming to an end, Surf City gives the chance for listeners to stick their feet in the sand and bathe in the sun ­­— at least through auditory memories.

Grade: A