At the start of 2010, Nada Surf announced they’d recorded a covers album, If I Had A Hi-Fi. Comprised of songs from artists both familiar to me (Arthur Baker, Kate Bush, Depeche Mode, Spoon, The Moody Blues) and not (Bill Fox and Mecromina), the CD was initially sold solely at the band’s live gigs, then saw a limited release on Record Store Day in April (when I snagged my copy), and finally made its way to physical and digital retailers in early June.

If I Had A Hi-Fi isn’t meant to be any sort of grand artistic statement, according to Nada Surf frontman Matthew Caws. “We really just wanted to do it organically, whatever we felt like covering in the moment, rather than trying to sum up our influences.”

Whether you listen to If I Had A Hi-Fi from start to end or skip all around, the palindromically titled LP works backwards and forwards. If compiled together in their original forms, this same set of songs wouldn’t make for a very coherent mix, but Nada Surf has knitted their takes together so sonically well that casual listeners might not realize these are others’ tunes unless tipped off. Well, with the definite exception of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence.”

Though vestiges of the synthpop band’s breakthrough single from 1990’s Violator remain (the meandering guitar line is preserved), Nada Surf’s cover sports a genius arrangement. It’s like New Order by way of The Byrds, succeeding in making a now-classic song sound completely fresh. Hear here:

I couldn’t help but also highlight the band’s cover of Kate Bush’s “Love and Anger,” which like “Enjoy The Silence,” was originally a hit in 1990 (reaching #1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart). Another standout from If I Had A Hi-Fi, I can’t stop hitting repeat on Nada Surf’s new take:

Purchase Nada Surf – “Enjoy The Silence” and “Love and Anger” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.