{"id":78929,"date":"2019-05-15T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=78929"},"modified":"2023-04-07T14:19:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:19:55","slug":"review-black-surf-make-friends-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Black Surf \u2013 Make Friends EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-78931\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Black-Surf-cover-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\">Black Surf<\/strong> gained a shower of praise for their 2016 experimental pop-rock album \u2018<em>Let\u2019s Pretend It\u2019s Summer<\/em>\u2019. <em>\u2018Make Friends\u2019<\/em> is the first of this material since, but if you\u2019re expecting the noisy guitar of their debut, it\u2019s all but absent here. Instead, they are trying on a softer sound and it fits very well.<\/p>\n<p>With its experimental take on pop-punk, their debut drew strong comparisons to Weezer. The influence hasn\u2019t entirely gone and an infectious vein runs throughout the EP. However, they also acknowledge the importance of The Lemonheads in shaping this four-song set. You can hear that too, but the sound is their own.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, each song is distinct but sits comfortably with the others. \u2018<em>Into the Night<\/em>\u2019 works as an opening, using softly strummed fuzzy guitars to lull you in. Yet, it\u2019s the song\u2019s emotional vocal core that really grasps you. It\u2019s a contrast to the pleasant slice of indie-pop on \u2018<em>Open Fire<\/em>\u2019 which shows glimpses of the band\u2019s rougher edge but is a clear progression. As the band continues to the brighter tone of \u2018<em>Eleven Dando (Good Time)<\/em>\u2019, an atmospheric and breathy vocal performance from Ali Epstone pushes the song forward while drawing it closer to the others. It\u2019s skilfully done.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C5eSQuZD_uw<\/p>\n<p>Producers Lee Smith and Jamie Lockhart have curtailed the band\u2019s slightly harsh sound. Instead, they round the edges and push little details. This is clearly heard on \u2018<em>Major Regiment<\/em>\u2019, which is a solid departure for the band. It\u2019s a caustic piece, full of stuttering, distant guitars and intense backwards-sounding cymbal crashes. You can almost feel the battle with depression Epstone is singing about.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Black Surf<\/strong> are really onto something with \u2018<em>Make Friends<\/em>\u2019. It is a confident statement and an affecting piece of work. As such a rounded journey it seems a shame it\u2019s only four songs long. A second EP from the same sessions will follow later this year and based on this, it will be worth looking forward to.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<em>Make Friends\u2019<\/em> EP by <strong>Black Surf<\/strong> is released on 15th May.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Black Surf<\/strong> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blacksurf.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>| <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EnjoyBlackSurf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/EnjoyBlackSurf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/EnjoyBlackSurf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/enjoyblacksurf.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ian Kenworthy (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WhisperingSand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@WhisperingSand<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;a confident statement and an affecting piece of work\u2026 Black Surf are really onto something with \u2018Make Friends'&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":78931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2269],"tags":[2428,15783,15621,16964],"class_list":["post-78929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-ep-review","tag-black-surf","tag-ep-reviews","tag-ian-kenworthy","tag-make-friends"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Black Surf \u2013 Make Friends EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;a confident statement and an affecting piece of work\u2026 Black Surf are really onto something with \u2018Make Friends&#039;&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Black Surf \u2013 Make Friends EP - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;a confident statement and an affecting piece of work\u2026 Black Surf are really onto something with \u2018Make Friends&#039;&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-15T09:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-07T13:19:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Black-Surf-cover-e1557495617740.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Kenworthy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Kenworthy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Black Surf \u2013 Make Friends EP - Already Heard Staging","description":"\"a confident statement and an affecting piece of work\u2026 Black Surf are really onto something with \u2018Make Friends'\"","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Black Surf \u2013 Make Friends EP - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"\"a confident statement and an affecting piece of work\u2026 Black Surf are really onto something with \u2018Make Friends'\"","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2019-05-15T09:00:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-07T13:19:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":510,"height":510,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Black-Surf-cover-e1557495617740.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ian Kenworthy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Kenworthy","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/"},"author":{"name":"Ian Kenworthy","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/e00899caa476ac5e5fc7ef785c987de1"},"headline":"Review: Black Surf \u2013 Make Friends EP","datePublished":"2019-05-15T09:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:19:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/"},"wordCount":375,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Black-Surf-cover-e1557495617740.jpeg","keywords":["Black Surf","EP Reviews","Ian Kenworthy","Make Friends"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","EP Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/","name":"Review: Black Surf \u2013 Make Friends EP - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Black-Surf-cover-e1557495617740.jpeg","datePublished":"2019-05-15T09:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:19:55+00:00","description":"\"a confident statement and an affecting piece of work\u2026 Black Surf are really onto something with \u2018Make Friends'\"","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-surf-make-friends-ep\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Black-Surf-cover-e1557495617740.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Black-Surf-cover-e1557495617740.jpeg","width":510,"height":510},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/e00899caa476ac5e5fc7ef785c987de1","name":"Ian Kenworthy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f783f0372cac70e4f23bc75bf8457c1866467c2282723fa8314019f18e66003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f783f0372cac70e4f23bc75bf8457c1866467c2282723fa8314019f18e66003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f783f0372cac70e4f23bc75bf8457c1866467c2282723fa8314019f18e66003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ian Kenworthy"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/ian-kenworthy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78929"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79075,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78929\/revisions\/79075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}