‘My head huuurts’
and ‘everything sucks if you don’t get
your way’ make up some of the moody hooks on this new album from San Diego
rock band Wavves. If it weren’t for the ridiculously bouncy instrumentals, I’d
think frontman Nathan Williams was a right sourpuss. Instead the unfittingly
upbeat surf rock guitars turn the whole thing into a fun downer mockery – a woe-is-me
album that seems to rejoice all of Nathan’s grumbles.
Admittedly, there isn’t much to distinguish one song from
the next –the majority of the tracklist melding into a blur of stroppy exclamations
and twangy riffs. Only the track ‘Pony’ delivers both a memorable melody and message - a breezy
breakup anthem that pokes fun of fake optimism with the line ‘It gets better’, whilst simultaneously
seeming to embrace that sentiment.
Overly-polished production remains the only the other issue.
Wavves have come a long way since the sloppy, lo-fi fuzz of their debut (which
sounded like it had been recorded with a potato), and whilst I do like the
tight groove that Wavves’ newly-found shiny production brings, some of it also
makes these songs feel a bit stiff. More moments such as the crackly effects
found on ‘Leadhead’ could have countered this.
★★★☆☆
TRACK TASTER: