Surf City: Surf City EP

Surf City sounds like it sounds. Assembled out of the punk pasts of two young New Zealanders, this debut Surf City EP is six songs of this-is-us. More straight-out surf rock than the rest of the noise-pop scene, Surf City buries Beach Boys in haze, sets it over chugging guitars. Though it’s mainly intended as an introduction-to-sound, Surf City EP is faceted enough to contain promise — check the charming, high guitars of “Mt. Kill”, or the more relaxed “Dickshakers Union”, with its quickly-lost shard of melody. The only misstep’s the finale, a straighter rock number whose forthright vocal track and cleaner guitar sound drains the group’s natural low-fi charm. They don’t quite have the polish and refinement of the noise-pop acts that made it big this year — No Age, Abe Vigoda, Titus Andronicus, Times New Viking. But if they choose a certain (not-the-easy-) path, Surf City could soon be among them.