Yuck. I really don't like this album.
Wavves, the self-titled debut album by Nathan Williams (and Ryan Ulsh on drums) was good. The first three tracks, "Intro Goth," "California Goth," and "Wavves" (I guess I had the cassette edition that came out in 2008 when Williams was solo) were tongue-lolling-, head-shaking-good. They sounded vaguely the same as each other, and the rest of the tracks, but they incited a beach riot in my memory; an experience I had never had. It was visceral!
But this album, Afraid of Heights, doesn't do any of that: Williams voice is cloying, track after fucking track; and the music is as thin as an eyelash without the rubbed-raw sandpaper sound of their older stuff.
But this album, Afraid of Heights, doesn't do any of that: Williams voice is cloying, track after fucking track; and the music is as thin as an eyelash without the rubbed-raw sandpaper sound of their older stuff.
A few songs worth trying out are, "Afraid of Heights"—which features Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley (another band I stopped liking after their first two albums), and for which Wavves has released a supposedly evocative concept video??—, "Everything Is My Fault," and "That's On Me"–which isn't bad. "Gimme a Knife" drops a few cold, old tricks out of their sleeve, but only for a gleaming instant. The song titles are cute, but I'm afraid that's a part of the game, not honest artistic direction. Oh well, I guess my opinion of Wavves is tarnished. Not that that's a big deal, they've always been pretty green (and not like money, which I think they have acquired, bless their hearts).
After the release of King of the Beach in 2010, Williams said, "...the tone of the first two records" was "like, 'got no car, got no money, but, I still got my parents' house." An insightful statement that aptly reflected their music–which has not evolved with the times.
Grade: C-
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