Photo Credit: Marisa Rose Ficara

Indie rock group Surfer Blood has announced they will release upcoming album Snowdonia on February 3rd via Joyful Noise Recordings. The album marks their fourth full-length release overall and first since 2015 album 1000 Palms.

Surfer Blood wrote and recorded Snowdonia shortly after guitarist Thomas Feteke’s untimely death in May. The album features a retooled lineup, with Michael McCleary on guitar and Lindsey Mills on bass. Lead singer John Paul Pitts mixed and recorded the album alone.

Keeping with previously released single “Six Flags in F or G”, Pitts incorporates much darker lyrical themes on Snowdonia. He grapples with Feteke’s death and absence from band activities throughout the album, as well as his own mother’s fight with breast cancer.

Pitts said the new songs were written specifically with the band’s current lineup and new strengths in mind. The additions of McCleary and Mills, both capable vocalists, allowed Pitts to layer vocals throughout the album, and incorporate call and response aspects into chorus arrangements.

Snowdonia runs eight tracks long, the band’s shortest full-length track list to date. Their last album, 1000 Palms, received mixed critical reception. The group recorded the album in drummer Tyler Schwartz’s childhood home, and shifted toward a cleaner, more upbeat sound.

Snowdonia Track Listing:

1. Matter of Time
2. Frozen
3. Dino Jay
4. Six Flags in F or G
5. Snowdonia
6. Instant Doppelgängers
7. Taking Care of Eddy
8. Carrier Pigeon