Surf Friends: Sonic Waves (Flying Nun/bandcamp)

When we reviewed Surf Friends' 2010 debut album Confusion – by Auckland's Brad Coley/Mark Westmoreland duo – we noted their unashamed influences from the Clean and the Chills (“whose sound they effectively hijack completely for some tracks”)  although concluded “there is also more than enough hints and suggestions of various possible directions that you may conclude these two - in some form or other -- are going to be worth watching”.

Not surprising then that as they arrive at this fifth album they can look back on collaborations and playing with the Clean's Kilgour brothers, Snapper and Nick (Skeptics) Roughan.

The evidence here is that their not-broken-so-don't-fix alt.rock drone (Whirling Hiss, Signal On) and chiming alt.pop (Dreaming and Something Real which bring to mind Andrew Brough's driving acoustic work with Bike) is still serving them well.

Add in some determined jangle along with the fuzzed guitars, terrific bass mixed high, a relentless rhythmic momentum plus the hook of the title on Woohoo and you've got a scuffed-up slice of thrilling play-loud power pop . . . which opens the door for the equally strong Times What You Want which follows.

Play Your Show pushes them in yet another direction, more towards minimalist Manchester post-punk but with an insinuating pop quality akin to Lou Reed's casual and detached delivery (a reference we also made 14 years ago) and a sonically swelling second half.

It would be hard to argue that Surf Friends are innovative but when those melodic pop elements are added to the mix of distortion, energy and their almost motorik propulsion in places then Sonic Waves (a hat-tip to their longtime producer Mark Howden) lives up to its title.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here