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SURF FRIENDS: Surf Friends EP

There is a blast of Kilgour-esque guitar and we’re off and into Life With You, the first of four short, sharp tracks on this EP of angular guitars that are low slung and slurred vocals that are spoken as much as they are sung. Brad Coley, Kelly Davis and Peter Westmoreland formed Surf Friends in early 2009 – the mutual love of Flying Nun legends The Clean and surfing being what brought them together. You will hear glimpses of The Verlaines too – perhaps most noticeably on third track Small Things. It’s nice to hear the minimal approach of Davis as a drummer; more a percussionist, adding textures, flavours and touches – rather than driving every song home with a predictable ride cymbal shimmer and standard eight-note beat with the two and four marked on the snare and one and three on the bass. Surf Friends have a nice simple formula, allowing the Lou Reed-styled guitars to ring out loud and proud – happily acknowledging their most obvious influence – but still creating something that is memorable. I like this wee EP a lot. I’m keen to hear more.

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