'Tuned In' review: Nada Surf braves indifferent stars

"The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy" by Nada Surf

“The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy,” Nada Surf (Barsuk)

Nada Surf’s latest release is built on searing guitars and soaring melodies, lively rhythms and absorbing refrains.

But to concentrate on the structure of “The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy” is to miss the bigger picture: The deft arrangements are but a foundation for the existential crisis of frontman Matthew Caws. The 44-year-old singer/guitarist for the 20-year-old New York band has some bold thoughts for that relatively safe sound, his amiable voice weighing in with subjects that might make listeners uncomfortable.

Caws, the son of philosophy professor Peter Caws (who is credited for the clever title of the release), takes the basic premise of the Peggy Lee hit “Is That All There Is” and dives deep with it as the running theme for the album. His bittersweet observations offer no absolutes as he reflects that life in general is surreal and not what he expected it to be.

Edgy opener “Clear Eye Clouded Mind” sets up what’s to come as Caws wonders, “All I feel is transition, when do we get home?”

Later, on the gloomy “When I Was Young,” he ponders, “Now I’ve grown up/I wonder what was that world I was dreaming of?” — a notion recast on the more upbeat “Teenage Dreams,” where his emotional reaction to a breakdancer leads him to the conclusion, “It’s never too late for teenage dreams.” He works in other reference points, including immersing himself into multiple roles in the French story “Jules et Jim” (which was both a novel and a film based on the novel), and he parallels humankind’s squandering of the environment with the squandering of personal dreams on “The Moon Is Calling” and “No Snow on the Mountain.”

And throughout the release are his shocked observations at the passing of time and the shifting of perspective: “Every birthday candle that ever got blown out is one more year of someone trying to figure it all out,” he sings in the frenetic drive of “Looking Through,” while on the finale “the Future,” he concludes with a blunt, “I cannot believe the future is happening to me.”

Believe it or not, we’ve never been as old as we are right now, and we’ll never be this young again.

Rating (five possible): 4

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