Listening to the first two albums from Wavves is an exercise I can best describe as melodic panhandling. There were moments that were pure gold, but the process of sifting for the riches was a frustrating one, with Nathan Williams tending to obscure any semblance of a hook within swirls of lo-fi sediment. However, on third offering King of The Beach, the San Diego man has toned down the distortion and zoned in on the tune.
As a consequence, this record is easier to love than its predecessors, with the recruitment of a rhythm section comprising Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes – both formerly of Jay Reatard’s touring band – enabling a transition towards more conventional song structures. As the record’s title might suggest, Williams seems intent on wresting the surf-pop crown from Brian Wilson’s head, with the frothy ‘When Will You Come?’ crossing the Beach Boys’ celestial sounds with Phil Spector’s chiming production. The spirit of Syd Barrett hovers near on the merrily freaked out ‘Convertible Balloon’, whilst ‘Post Acid’ scampers with all the puppy-dog enthusiasm of blue period Weezer.
The relative breeziness of the music is set against the marked self-recrimination and trepidation evident in the lyrics. Williams, who suffered an onstage meltdown at last year’s Primavera, is clearly a man with issues. He bemoans being trapped in this “insufferable world”, calls himself an “idiot” and, on the Pixies-conjuring ‘Take On The World’, states, “I still hate my music, it’s all the same… I hate myself, man”. Musically, he may have sanded down a few rough edges, but he remains a complicated and spiky character.
KEY TRACK: ‘TAKE ON THE WORLD’