The Weight Is a Gift (2005)

Once heirs to Weezer's geek-rock throne with the mid-'90s hit ''Popular,'' the New York trio Nada Surf have turned to O.C.-ready slacker romanticism. Their fourth CD boasts the same lo-fi jangle and lush fuzz as 2003's Let Go, but Matthew Caw's cool detachment can border on boring. His plaintive croon on ''Comes a Time'' plods along with deliberately delicate strums like Death Cab on autopilot. Only when he explodes into a yelp can we fully bask in Surf's splendor.