Del Sur–a beach pop band from decidedly un-beachy Philadelphia–specializes in whimsy done mellow. The group is both youthful and young: young because their debut EP H.A.G.S. comes out at the end of January 2015, and youthful because of their penchant for simple melodies that repeat each other and multiply, like a round, over a bongo drum line. H.A.G.S., though, isn’t quite a pop album. More accurately, it’s a paradox of the familiar and the strange: Del Sur lays catchy guitar lines and confessional lyrics down alongside one another, but never syncs them up. You get the sense that these songs aren’t telling you something.
“I see you, I want to know more,” vocalist Michael Collier singsongs in the second single off H.A.G.S., “In My Room,” with the kind of disconnected earnestness that sets up a listener for an album’s worth of songs that are endearingly, if irreconcilably, at odds. Beginning with a sunny surf pop melody line, the listener is immediately hooked in, only to be thrown by Collier’s charming, idiosyncratic lo-fi vocals. Simple yet catchy, the track’s brevity speaks for itself, leaving us, well, wanting to know more from this band.
Listen to their brand new gem here, via Soundcloud.
