Will Nada Surf Get 'Popular' with Lucky?

Once, they were popular.

Nada who?

New York-based alternative rock trio, Nada Surf, right now seems light years from “Popular,” their deadpan 1996 single about teenage angst and high school hijinx that ironically catapulted the little known band into celebrity status. 

These days, Nada Surf enjoys a relatively quiet but quality adult life that listeners can savor in the well-balanced notes and lyrics of Lucky, their fifth album, which will be released tomorrow on Barsuk Records. That sensitive Seattle label is also home to Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley and They Might Be Giants.

Listen to how Nada Surf became all grown up after the jump!

Currently, Nada Surf has made the 11 tracks of Lucky available to hear on their MySpace page. Although these tunes probably will not attain the reach that the video-fueled "Popular" did, most ears will appreciate the album's lovely melodies and bittersweet ruminations on love and life. The single, "See These Bones" reportedly was inspired by a visit that lead singer Matthew Caws made in Rome to the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks, a religious order that memorialized its fallen brethren with a sculpture made of their bones.

In some ways, the pretty but sedate Lucky sounds like the perfect sonic tonic for the impending flood of Tsunami Tuesday. Still, any band that would release an album amidst the noise of that day must be deliberately aiming to stay unpopular. Their spring tour will tell.