Equal parts dreamy and pulsating, Surf Philosophies take the psychedelia of Animal Collective and Caribou and cram it into a rock and roll band framework. It works, though. It really does.

 

Radio interview

 

With a name like Surf Philosophies, you might think you have this Swedish duo’s sound pegged. Whatever you might be conjuring in your head, it probably doesn’t sound like their debut single “Coconut Parfum,” that builds layers of ominous synths, chimes, skittering beats and impassioned vocal harmonies across seven-plus minutes. No reverbed guitar in sight. Surf Philosophies’ second single, “How to Surf,” due out soon via Adrian Recordings, is even more orchestral (is that an oboe in there?) that somewhat seems to be positing that surfing is a state mind.

 

Lifted from the band’s forthcoming debut on Adrian Recordings, the five-and-a-half-minute single is an endearingly odd beast, rumbling on skeletal frames for the first couple of minutes before suddenly leaping in to more linear, tangible realms for the bold second half. The instrumentation is a faint and often eerie backdrop, and those blurred vocals seem to hang somewhere else entirely; the enticing sound of the crashing waves hidden by some rocky headland that you can never quite find your way around.

 

A weaving maze of a listen, a gentle sweep of low-key synth makes way for a colossal burst of leaping, layered vocals, and in turn for a sublime second half where reeling chimes of percussion form a bed for brilliant dovetails of deep, blissful texture.

 

Adrian Recordings
Sweden
 
magnus@adrianrecordings.com
www.adrianrecordings.com

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