Surf Curse — Heaven Surrounds You (LP)
Over the last ten years, surf rock has been pushing its’ way back into our beloved indie music scene. Along with that came a number of amazing bands that incorporate classic surf rock elements into new-age elements of synth-pop, techno, and grunge rock. Nevada based band, Surf Curse, has worked it’s way up the surf rock ladder since 2013. First releasing their demo album on Bandcamp, followed by a full-length album and an EP (all in the same year!). 2017 brought their next full-length album, and after a long two-year wait we finally got to hear what the band has been working on since then. Their new album titled “Heaven Surrounds You” is by far the best work Surf Curse has released, but any band working with such persistence is bound to get better and better with time.
Surf Curse is currently comprised of the two main members: Nick Rattigan on drums, and lead vocals (that’s right, I said drums AND vocals. Uh hello coordination), and Jacob Rubeck on the guitar. The duo really made their mark on the indie music scene back in 2016 after their performance at Beach Goth music festival. Multiple tours and appearances on live session recordings like Audiotree and Jam in the Van later, Surf Curse has built themselves a steady fanbase of 500,000+ listeners. They are now signed to the record label Danger Collective, who also houses similar bands like Slow Hollows, Salvia Plath, Current Joys, Boyo, and more.
Let’s dive into their new album, shall we? Here is a brief song-by-song analysis of “Heaven Surrounds You”.
Map to the Stars- An upbeat opener to the album, the lyrics are only one stanza so I’ll post them here
Hey are you gonna find me
Look on the maps to the stars
Oh my heart is on fire
Burn whoever you are
The song is about being your weird self and burning bright like a star in the sky.
Labyrinth- You were into this chick but you got way too obsessed with her, so she left you. The “Labyrinth” could be a metaphor for navigating a really messed up relationship
Disco- This guy is really into this girl, specifically how she dances to music. A really upbeat song about getting on the dance floor and dancing with the one you love. Kinda poppy but most of the album is anyway.
Rivers Edge- I always interpreted this as being fed up with the big city or society as a whole, the “river’s edge” is an analogy for living closer to nature. The singer hopes to be able to maintain his creativity and his connection with his lover.
Midnight Cowboy- Self-explanatory, the singer is living like a modern-day cowboy, driving around all night in his car, meeting strangers, running from police, very catchy and a personal favorite from the album.
Hour of the Wolf- Just another song about the torment of missing the one you love. The painful and angry torment of the werewolves of old mythology, turning into their true form during a full moon is used as an analogy for heartbreak.
Dead Ringers- A dead ringer is a phrase meaning an exact duplicate, sometimes a phony version of something else. The final two lines:
And I can feel that pain
Wherever you may go
Can be seen as the dead ringer; The singer feels duplicate emotions of his lover.
Safe- A song about the general feeling of feeling safe with someone you love, how your connection and mutual strangeness helps you both feel less alone.
Memory- Reminiscing on the old memories one would share with their lover, sweet, bitter Nostalgia.
Opera- An Opera is used as a metaphor for the back and forth, I love you now I hate you, drama of a relationship. Operas are usually long, sorrowful dramas, an apt metaphor for a toxic relationship.
Trust- This 2:48 song is taking us through the process of some nice guy asking a girl to be in a relationship with him, and asking her to trust him because he believes they complete each other.
Jamie- The general feeling of being an angsty young person and getting a call from your friends to go out and do something. When you’re young, going out and doing things and having fun is part of growing up and this whole “life” thing. Some people don’t get that opportunity very often, or not at all in some cases, so songs like this help lonely young people live vicariously through the songs and pretend like they are not social pariahs.
Surf Curse makes sure that their name gets out there. Their music is available on a variety of music services such as Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, etc. If you want to keep up with concert dates or the lives of the members, you can find their pages on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as their website:
Website: https://www.surfcurse.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/surfcurse/?hl=en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nrattiganz?lang=en
https://twitter.com/jacobrubeck?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/surfcurseband/
If you’ve made it this far through the article and have yet to throw on the album, fear not!
Surf Curse deserves all the love they receive, and a whole lot more. As a surf-rock lover myself, I have fallen head over heels for these guys. This album is a great fit for fans of Los Blenders, Beach Goons, Fox Academy, Cyberbully Mom Club, and Current Joys. Give them a listen! Who knows, they may just be your new favorite artist.
Do you like the music we’ve posted about so far? Follow our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1AOGq1nfriRmAa4rpCtMCg?si=76nSwM40RV6wzhgccYKf5A
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/under-the-rock/pl.u-leylWDlhLP0Zr6
