Wavves’ latest album, King Of The Beach, picks up where the band left off
The history of rock ‘n’ roll is littered with notorious characters – Jerry Lee Lewis, Jim Morrison, Keith Moon and GG Allin to name but a trivial selection. Notoriety makes for good publicity; all too often, however, it can distract attention from the quality of the artist’s output. Having endured an on-stage meltdown – and a private brawl and public spat with the Black Lips – Nathan Williams is well on the way to constructing his own notorious public profile. And that’s somewhat of a pity, as Williams’ band, Wavves, deserve plenty of artistic attention.
Wavves’ latest album, King Of The Beach, picks up where the band left off with their previous record, Wavvves. Williams is still stuck in a lo-fi garage aesthetic, though with King Of The Beach he’s stumbled down, bleary-eyed to the Californian beach for some further inspiration.
On the title track Williams is both smitten and threatened by the metaphorical and literal beauty of the beach sun; like Brian Wilson trading licks with The Wailers and The Sonics in a Tacoma garage in 1966, Wavves take the industrial attitude of the Pacific North-West and imbues it with the indulgent hedonism of California. Idiot is a surfing tale with a difference – the surfing is in Williams’ mind, and the garage licks and southern harmonies are extreme to the point of cerebral pain.
When Will You Come is a ’50s dance-hall soundtrack touched by the hand of David Lynch, where you’re just sure some axe-wielding lunatic is going to appear at any moment to fuck the party right up. Post Acid – is this metaphor again? – is fast, frenetic and beautifully fucked up, Take On The World is a sun-filled journey down the coast chauffeured by some weird kid with a head full of pills and an image problem and Convertible Balloon takes the electro-syncopated pop of The Tom Tom Club and spikes with some chemically complex concoction from a Bay Area laboratory.
On Green Eyes Williams is in plaintive love song mode, abusing himself yet again, but finding solace in a grinding garage riff that’ll bring pleasure to many, even if Williams can’t find inner peace. Mutant is more self-hatred, Linus Spacehead elevates acid rock into a higher plane of spiritual appreciation and Baby Say Goodbye is the cartoon pop track The Archies always wanted.
Judging by the tone and substance of the lyrics on King Of The Beach, Nathan Williams is one troubled guy; look beyond the tabloid observations, though, and King Of The Beach is simply another fucking great album.
Wavves : King of the Beach is availble now and distributed by Pod and Inertia
