Turning their back on surf rock for the greener (football) fields of college rock, Surfer Blood’s second finds them in agreeable shape.

Straightforward, sun-kissed melodies and power-pop choruses is the name of the game on this second album proper, fed through fat, lightly scuzzy guitars for a radio-rock feel.

And it’s hard to escape the calling card of Buddy Holly-era Weezer among these 10 tracks – the band ditching their surf rock roots for early-’90s college rock instead.

Perhaps weighed down by singer John Paul Pitts’ being accused of domestic violence last year, Pythons avoids the goonish schtick of the worst bands of that era, songs like the weighty-riffed, short-and-sweeet Gravity taking in Beach Boys harmonies and latter-day MOR rock of Foo Fighters.

Their catchy melodies burn brightly in a crucible of snappy drum licks and fizzing guitars – but they don’t hang around long in the memory.

I Was Wrong is probably their best, while the psychedelic, harmony-drenched strummer Needles And Pins glints quietly.

The odd scream from Pitts hints at a love of hardcore too, but these guys play it straight for now on a solid summer set.

3 stars