Surgery And Pleasure

After forming the band as teens in 2013 and putting out four albums by the turn of the decade, Boston indie rock trio Vundabar enjoyed a second wind when their six-year-old single "Alien Blues" went viral on social platforms in 2021. With new fans in tow, the group bolstered their engaging mix of surf/garage rock, post-punk, and angular indie rock with more electronics on the next years Devil for the Fire LP. Their sixth album, Surgery and Pleasure, finds Vundabar at their most urgent and visceral yet, as they lean into brisker tempos, 2000s indie rock, and post-punk postures for their Loma Vista label debut. It kicks off with the dingy and driving "Life Is a Movie" ("There is no story, just an endless roiling ocean"), a partly shouted, anxious dance-rock bop that looks for answers to questions like "What were you doing in my song last night?" From there, they push the pace a bit more for the hooky and angular "Stallion Running" before breaking into a gallop for outright banger "I Got Cracked" ("So I cant get broke no more"), a song that recalls the best of bands like the Strokes and the Walkmen. After that, the tempos come down a little, but the energy doesnt, as they strut their way through tunes like the grungier "Spades" ("Everybodys asking/But nobody knows the question"), the pogo-punky "Let Me Bleed," and the slinkier "Hurricane," with its bass-and-vocals interplay. Vundabar dont take a breather until the six-plus-minute, inebriated and more earnest ninth track, "I Need You," before driving home in the rain on headbanger "Easy Does It" and closing on the sparse coda "Why Is It So Hard to Say Goodbye." While the group have released songs before that hit this level of passion, drama, and urgency, theyve never maintained it like they do on the consistently nervy Surgery and Pleasure, and it hits with a cathartic wallop. ~ Marcy Donelson