Album Review : Wavves - King Of The Beach
- Written by Antonio Tzikas
It’s not been the easiest of rides for Nathan Williams since his rise to fame off the back of his fuzz heavy brat-punk anthem ‘So Bored’. First there was the feeling of disappointment conjured up by the accompanying album Wavves, which consisted mostly of half baked songs about goths and instrumental barrages of harsh digital noise all mixed on Garageband. Then came the fact he was shit live, topped off by the much documented and youtube viewed ‘stage meltdown’ at Primavera 2009, which saw him written him off as a petulant, ungrateful kid getting too big for his high top Vans and unable to hack the rigours of touring. Then his drummer left the band, which is always a tragedy, made worse by the fact he was the only other member. This put Wavves back in Williams’ bedroom, somewhere some would say, it should never have left.
At the beginning of 2010 and with his feet firmly on square one, Wavves once again left the bedroom and this time ventured into the studio with a new backing band made up of members of the late Jay Reatard’s band and recorded King of the Beach with the help of Dennis Herring. The outcome actually sounds like a proper album this time, the lo-fi aesthetic is still there albeit sounding a lot softer and warmer due to the proper studio recording as opposed to the glitchy overdriven digital noise of past albums. There are no dodgy instrumentals here either thankfully, just 12 great summery garage-pop tunes that really show Williams’ growth as a songwriter since the last Wavves album. The sound is more grown up, and much more honed, precise and full.
It’s Wavves...but not as we know it, the snot nosed attitude is still present, with lyrics about playing Nintendo and song titles such as ‘Baseball Cards’ and ‘Super Soaker’ but the songs seem to have more in common with The Beach Boys and 60‘s Spector pop in their beats and backing vocals than with the sledgehammers of dirty noise that have become the Wavves trademark. Take ‘When Will You Come’ for a great example of the new Wavves sound - the shimmering tambourine, clean guitar line, ‘Be My Baby’ beat and Pet Sounds harmonies tick all the boxes for the perfect pop song and characterise the new chilled direction taken on this record.
Although King Of The Beach is a record filled with good songs, particular highlights include “Convertible Balloon”, which sounds somewhere between a kids TV show theme tune and a slower version of an early Stooges or Sonics track, and closer “Baby Say Goodbye” which makes good use of classic 60’s pop “ooohs” “sha-la-la’s” handclaps, backing vocals and drum beats. It could almost be an early Beatles track and is the first song I’ve heard from Wavves that I would think a triumph for any band.
Elsewhere, the Wavves sound is plastered all over the record but in smaller, lighter doses - the synth on ‘Baseball Cards’ is classic Wavves but sounds fuzzy rather than cutting and the echoey “oooooooohs” that made ‘So Bored’ get put to good use on most tracks. The simple fact is this album is just better in all ways than the last two, it might be due to there being a proper band in the recording process, it might be due to the fact there was a producer involved or that it wasn’t recorded through a laptop microphone, but it’s most likely because Williams has pulled his socks up and written a collection of really good pop songs properly crafted and with time spent on them, helped along by some great production that captures the spirit of Wavves while making the record listenable from start to finish.
It could have gone either way for Nathan Williams and thankfully he’s managed to make a proper album which was vital for him to have any hope of regaining some of his credibility. I hope this record proves to all the haterz out there that he isn’t just a real life Bart Simpson who got lucky with one good tune a few years ago.