if I had a hi-fi
If Nada Surf followed the expected narrative, the band would have broken up and become a footnote not long after scoring a novelty hit with “Popular” in 1996. Instead, the trio soldiered on, building an appreciative following around the great 2002 album Let Go, a pair of not-so-shabby follow-up albums, and winning…
This might seem particularly troubling to fans of Nada Surf, since their continued existence after the flash-in-the-pan success of "Popular" in 1996 has had so much to do with their growing strength as idiosyncratic pop songwriters, but for whatever reason, the group has chosen to interpret the work of 12 other acts on their sixth studio album, If I Had a Hi-Fi, and they've done it in a way that avoids sounding like a holding action.
On If I Had a Hi-Fi, Nada Surf accomplishes the rare feat of producing a covers album that won't just waste space on your CD shelf.
It’s the band’s confidence and self-awareness that keep that tone from sinking the project.
During an early 2010 Nada Surf concert, singer/guitarist Matthew Caws attempted to explain the genesis of the group's new covers album, If I Had a Hi-Fi...