Professional, polished and paranoid, Wavves have returned with a beautiful record of mistrust and obsession. Afraid Of Heights has a lot less space and air than their previous record King Of The Beach. It might be a sunny day but if the curtains are drawn how would you know?
Sail To The Sun opens the disc, it is a Saints era sounding pop-punk and a shining example of what this record does best, surprisingly reminiscent of what Ash did best. Lunge Fwd surges seamlessly in from Mystic, a pound track with soaring chorus. I imagine Dog, (“Still I’ll be your dog”) to be a unrelated sequel to the Stooges I Wanna Be Your Dog but with xylophone twinkling away, acoustic strumming and clear thumping Violent Femmes bass lines. The title track is grungier than most, in the Elastica sense of grunge, woos and all, with the albums continued sense of despair, “Woke up and found Jesus, I think must be drunk, I’ll always be on my own,” but shows clear growth in signwriting and atmosphere, with a full minute-worth of atmospheric outro winding down like the spring of pocket watch. Paranoid is a surprisingly upbeat, building into the most instantly likable track on the album, Cop, a fun poppy soundscape, lifting backing vocal and choir like lead vocals.
I Can’t Dream finishes the album on a down note (although bonus track Hippies Is Punk feat Jenny Lewis appears on the end of my copy), a lament of sorts giving the narrative closure.
Production from John Hill (M.I.A., Santigold, Nas and Wu-Tang) gives the material and the band the room and expertise to really stand on their own.
Spacey and addled, it plays perfectly as an album, a cohesive unit of songs ebbing and flowing into one another.
BY JACK FRANKLIN
Best Track: Sail To The Sun
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: BEACH HOUSE, crippling manic depression.
In A Word: Fuzzy
