Photo via Fuzzysurf / YouTube
When indie rockers Fuzzysurf decide on a theme for their releases, they stick to it like a piece of gum on your shoe. Their latest, Sweet Tooth, mixes pop, indie and psych together for a sweet combination of melodies. Prior to the album’s release, the band put out four tracks from the project as individual singles, and their knack for pure pop songwriting allowed for each of those to feel ready for radio. It’s a sound that fans got to hear develop on their 2019 breakout, Fuzzy & The Surfs, and this record sounds like the next step forward in the right direction.
“We don’t really have anything planned, to tell you the truth. We’ve been really lucky with doing that” said frontman Sean Lehner. “Everyone has been really creative and open with ideas in our group. It really helps with finding out what works and what doesn’t work, and then we just go for it.”
If Sweet Tooth was a specific candy, it would likely be a Sour Patch Kid or Lemonhead, as there are some rougher points to the band’s fine-tuned pop. In contrast to tracks like most recent single “She Was Crying Sugar,” there are moments like “Surfana,” which hit a little harder, with sour lyrics about a flaky friend leaving to live out of a car. Sonically, tracks like “Electric Trick” also feel a little tart, invoking a twanging guitar solo while organs blare in the background, adding a bite to an otherwise sweet-sounding album.
“We wanted to have some of the same aesthetics from the last album, that we’re sort of this pop group, but with a bit of an edge” Lehner explained. “My lyrics tend to be pretty satirical and sarcastic in, so I think that works well with this music.”
It would be too simple to say that Sweet Tooth is pure bubblegum pop. There are a bevvy of different influences that make sporadic appearances from one track to another. The band incorporates the best elements of The Beach Boys at their creative peak and gives that feel an update for the contemporary audience. Sweet Tooth, however, is an indie pop treat that is the product of well-crafted songwriting, no matter how you look at it.
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