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The past 18 months have been tumultuous for Californian surf-punk trio Wavves. There have been many highs; most notably, the success of their sophomore effort, the not-so-imaginatively titled Wavves, which made Pitchfork’s vaunted Best New Music list. But the trappings of success have also befallen Wavves, such as their performance at music festival Primavera Sound in 2009, where frontman Nathan Williams struggled listlessly through his set, insulting the Barcelona crowd and drawing the ire of the indie community. Williams later admitted to being on a drug cocktail of ecstasy, valium and xanax, though he refused to accept full responsibility for the mishap, despite a confused and insincere MySpace apology.
Wavves are set to release their third album, King of the Beach, on August 3rd through Fat Possum Records. As the album title suggests, Williams’ music would perhaps best be characterised as surf punk. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, and the opening lines to the titular track prove to be exemplary of Wavves’ music; “Let the sun burn my eyes / let it burn my back.” The rest of the album’s lyrics follow a similarly simple and quite repetitive pattern. Wavves’ music is simple; for the most part, however, it is not banal. Rather, it is a host of episodic & catchy summer anthems that capture the essence of Williams at his disaffected best and his grumbling worst.
The album represents only the vaguest of departures from Wavvves. Where their second album saw such myopic efforts as ‘So Bored’ make the cut (the song has one line, “I’m so bored,” that is repeated ad infinitum), it seems as though Williams has grown wiser in his old age (he’s only 23). Unfortunately, we see somewhat of a recurrence of this in the song ‘Idiot,’ where the last minute or so finds the listener’s ears assailed by the rather facile line “And it wouldn’t mean shit.” Williams has made it quite clear that he is another young adult who is disaffected by the capitalist merry-go-round; wording his irritation so tritely, however, is unlikely to win over the broader listening public. ‘Convertiible Balloon” also tends to dull the listener into repetitious tedium, but these two tracks, in the greater scheme of things, are two minor dark spots on an otherwise catchy and interesting album.
Songs like ‘Take on the World’ depict Williams in his finest light. The lyrics are once again quite simple, focussed mainly around the line “to take on the world would be something.” Nonetheless, the lo-fi production combined with Williams’ hazy, distorted vocals make the song a particular stand-out, an anthem for the skater community. ‘Green Eyes’ finds Williams professing his love in an odd but endearing ballad; “Green eyes / I’d run away with you / Green eyes / cos I’m a fool / I tried staying away / I’m just not man enough.” It is these more nuanced aspects of Williams songwriting that stand him in good stead, projecting him as the figurehead of the world’s disillusioned twenty-somethings.
It seems with Williams, his personality is his greatest obstacle. It is what defines his music, for better or worse, and just as with Wavves, the album leaves me with a sense of ambivalence. While King of the Beach has less out-and-out clunkers and definitely less mediocre tracks than Wavves, I still find myself thinking that Williams has yet to unlock his full potential as a musician. If he can shake the petulance and childishness from his personality, or at least his music, then we might finally see his breakout as a true indie darling. Until then, however, I find myself drawn to the album despite its obvious flaws and waiting anxiously for his next release. Whether it proves to be the album we’ve all been waiting for, the shining representative of modern noise pop, remains to be seen.
7.5
