Wavves new album King of the Beach steers band into new direction
New, studio-recorded album abandons distortion for keyboards and samples
pubs of merit
Wavves’ Glasgow show last November disappointed some of those charmed by the fuzzy, home-recorded pop thrum of their first two albums, Wavves and Wavvves. In sharp focus, the qualities that led some dizzy minds to lump them in with a new wave of ‘hypnagogic pop’ fell away, leaving a clumsy and inexperienced San Diego garage band struggling to justify the hype.
But with the studio-recorded King of the Beach, Wavves successfully fill the spaces once occupied by tape hiss and distortion with keyboard washes, samples and vocoder. And while Nathan Williams’ insolent vocals on ‘Post Acid’ may veer dangerously towards the Blink 182, ‘Baseball Cards’ and the Phil Spector-sampling ‘Mickey Mouse’ make King Of The Beach a worthwhile listen.
To post a comment you'll first need to sign in:
Not registered?
Sign up – it only takes a minute.
Forgotten your password?