Tarot Classics

With their follow-up to 2010's Astro Coast, Florida quartet Surfer Blood out themselves as unapologetic power-poppers. A brief EP that's also the group's farewell to indieland (they signed with Warner Brothers Records slightly before its release), Tarot Classics consists of one drop-dead brilliant power pop gem -- the ultra-catchy rocker "Miranda" -- plus three other solid tunes and a pair of remixes for good measure. (Power pop has always been a style best heard in small doses.) In a puckishly clever move, "Voyager Reprise" is basically a barely-disguised rewrite of "Miranda" in a slightly more downbeat mood; meanwhile, the nervy opener "I'm Not Ready" features the EP's strongest melody and the moody "Drinking Problem" wraps things up with new-wavy synths and the taunting refrain "At least I know who my friends are." Surprisingly, the remixes are actually interesting; the semi-electronic reworking of "Voyager Reprise" by Totally Sincere (The Pains of Being Pure At Heart's Peggy Wang and The Drums' Connor Hanwick), gives the song a vibe akin to New Order's late '80s singles, while Speculator's even more drastic revision of "Drinking Problem" reduces the arrangement to bass and minimal drums and washes swirling guitar feedback over the whole thing. Astro Coast was a promising debut, but it didn't hint at the major creative leap forward here; fingers crossed the band's major-label sojourn keeps this EP's forward momentum.