SINCE arriving on the scene in 2010, it’s safe to say Florida four piece Surfer Blood have been through more than the average band. There’s been the good (touring with the Pixies and releasing a critically acclaimed debut), the surprising (signing up with major label Warner Bros. for their second album), the awful (frontman John Paul Pitts being charged with domestic violence in 2013) and the downright devastating (original guitar player Thomas Fekete recently left the band after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer).

It’s a lot for any group to take in, far less one who’ve barely reached their mid-way point, yet while Surfer Blood have sometimes been portrayed as a bunch of Weezer-lite West Coast sunshine poppers, beneath the beach rock aesthetic and blazed out façade has always lurked something more sombre. 1000 Palms doesn’t feel like a record of redemption or grand statements, but rather an attempt at regrouping and trying to remember the time when the band were just a band.

Returning to DIY roots after their major label foray on 2013’s Pythons, structurally mutated album opener ‘Grand Inquisitor’ explodes with a frenzied full on drum kit assault before giving way to a squall of choppy guitars and celestial soundscapes in what sounds like a calculated fuck you to big studios and overt production sheen.

The sentiment is further echoed on ‘I Can’t Explain’ with its lyrics (“ordinary words on methylenedioxymethamphetamine”) and all-or-nothing instrumental outro described by Pitts as: “An excuse to get some Yo La Tengo/Built to Spill guitar fetishizing out of our system”.

It’s an album which, rightly or wrongly, will be defined for many by its lyrics. Although Pitts’ domestic battery charge came three years ago (he initially pleaded not guilty but changed his stance to a plea agreement two months later), its reverberations and subsequent art from the artist quandary still hangs heavily over the record.

Pitts recently addressed the issue on the band website, yet he isn’t naïve enough not to know that ultimately it’s a narrative now out with his control. Already, the choral refrain of “I’m happy for you, if you’re happy too” in ‘Point of No Return’ has been flagged up by several bloggers as particularly discomforting, yet Pitts has since revealed it was in fact written for Fekete based on stories the guitarist had told him about his previous cancer battles. Should the listener possess the privilege to be so instantly judgemental, or should Pitts be handling his words with more self-awareness?

The Buddy Holly indebted, bubble pop of ‘Sabre-Tooth and Bone’ offers a nice midpoint switch up, whereas lead single ‘Dorian’ is arguably the albums strongest point. Just about everything from acoustic guitars and 80’s synths, to demented vocoders and ooh-ooh harmonies are audible in a track that “embraced the anything goes spirit representative of the record” – or in other words, one which feels the most removed from the major label conventions which so hamstrung the band during the making of Pythons. ‘Other Desert Cities’ is another departure from the norm with its math rock intro and subtle Strokesian tremolo fills.

On the face of it 1000 Palms might seem uncomplicated and safe, but when you factor in the drama which has engulfed Surfer Blood over the past five years it instead feels necessary. If the aberration of Pythons is discounted, then it’s the band’s first attempt at trying to deal with everything that’s happened on their own terms. It might not contain the charm and excitement which once saw them labelled as a sort of surf rock MBV, but there’s still enough here to suggest they aren’t worth giving up on just yet.

Surfer Blood are trying to donate $120,000 to fund Thomas Fekete’s cancer treatment. You can donate at Go Fund Me.