The sharks are circling

Surfer Blood’s “Tarot Classics” EP harbors no surprises. There are four songs, each between three and four-and-a-half minutes and conceived at different points in Surfer Blood’s young career. They sound like Surfer Blood. In that way, it succeeds for every one of its 15 minutes.

The band has taken first track, “I’m Not Ready,” to the stage for years now, and it dates all the way back to when the band went by TV Club. Still, this version is hardly revised from the original — if at all — ultimately offering little more than old news in an mp3 format.

“Voyager Reprise,” with its series of composed solos and a great, thrashing coda to boot, will probably be the new live essential off this EP. Closer “Drinking Problem” uses wonderfully produced guitar distortion over a melancholy, repetitious bass line to match its quality in a far quieter manner.  

“Tarot” is Surfer Blood’s second official release, but expect its next LP to be the one that fans and critics remember as its true sophomore effort.