Nada Surf

On their second album of amiable alternapop, New York trio Nada Surf casually strolls through a thick catalog of various post-grunge styles to suitable, but uninteresting, effect. Producer Fred Maher brings a more rounded, and heftier, wall of sound to their delicately balanced tales of life in the superficial and wishy-washy '90s than Ric Ocasek did on their 1996 debut, High/Low, but it's all ultimately disposable and utterly forgettable. While there are times where The Proximity Effect tries to break out of the limiting corner of the alt-rock universe it's staked for itself (like the power-popping, rave-up "Why Are You So Mean to Me?"), more often than not it returns to the familiar, and assumingly comforting, haven of angst-free pop. There's nothing really wrong with that concept, but it's certainly one that will keep Nada Surf marked and suppressed with hyphenated labels. (This album was reissued in 2003 with the addition of two bonus tracks ["Silent Fighting" and "Spooky"], a video for "Firecracker," and a virtual tour of the band's studio.)~ Michael Gallucci, All Music Guide