Surfaces, a pop duo based in College Station is made up of Forrest Frank and Colin Padalecki. Colin and his cousin Alexa started creating music together in high school and Colin eventually released it online while in school at Texas A&M. Forrest Frank, freshly graduated from Baylor University, heard Colin’s work and invited him to come record on his houseboat. They released their first album (Surf) together in 2017 and Surfaces was born.
Since the release of their initial album, Padalecki and Frank have since released six consecutive albums. You may know them by their most popular song, “Sunday Best”, which peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 list and gained over a billion streams on Spotify.
All of their albums feature music that is bright, uplifting, and very distinct. Frank and Padalecki have constructed their own musical style consisting of elements of surf rock, pop, indie, calypso, and reggae, resulting in songs that you would hear playing at a seaside bar or in a surf boutique. The large emphasis placed on beach life both through song lyrics and album covers reflects itself through this Bob Marley type of music, which leaves you feeling uplifted and relaxed.
None of their music is very fast-paced; tending to lean towards the chiller side of things to reflect the larger emphasis placed on slowing down and enjoying life. Their older albums, Surf, Where the Light Is, Horizons, and Sunday Best (Japan Exclusive) are more similar to Bob Marley’s style of music and split air time between main vocals, background vocalization, and instrumentation. The newer albums (Pacifico Deluxe, Hidden Youth, Good Morning) skew more towards the mainstream pop side of things, but they still largely align with the original style of music.
The instrumentation used on Surfaces’ tracks are a big part of how they get that distinctive “island feel” in their music. Frequently used instruments include the acoustic guitar, light drumming in the background, some harp, and a lot of “beachy” sound effects in the background mimicking handpans and the ukulele. Frank and Padalecki also added their own twist by incorporating techno-like effects, which made the music feel more modern and helped them apply their music into mainstream pop.
My Top Ten:
- “Sunday Best” (Where the Light Is)
- “Come With Me” with salem ilese (Pacifico Deluxe)
- “Heaven Falls / Fall On Me” (Where the Light Is)
- “Don’t Let Me Down” with JVKE (Good Morning)
- “24 / 7 / 365” (Surf)
- “Bloom” (Horizons)
- “Sheesh!” (Pacifico Deluxe)
- “Cloud” (Good Morning)
- “Live It Up (High Tide)” (Good Morning)
- “What’s Been On Your Mind?” (Hidden Youth)
For fans of Forrest Frank, BENEE, Peach Tree Rascals, and Tai Verdes.
