Wavves: King of the Beach
Let’s just get this out in the open; I am really late on reviewing Wavves‘ new album, King of the Beach. The album has been sitting in my “to be reviewed” pile since its August release but it got buried/forgotten and now all these months later I look like a Johnny-come-lately. I know that every other blog in the world has reviewed this album before now, so I will just put a cap on Wavves’ third studio album.
Wavves has become blog darlings and it is pretty easy to see why. The music is somewhere between the garage punk of Jay Reatard and the lo-fi surf pop of Best Coast. Take the opening track for which the album is named. “King of the Beach” starts with a loud lo-fi snare hits before a twangy, un-distorted guitar plays the main riff. The main riff is accentuated by evenly timed distorted guitar power chords. Then Nathan Williams adds his wobbly vocals, singing about the sun and traditional beach imagery. The song as a whole reminds me of The Unicorns or The Lovely Feathers because of its manic energy and inherent insouciance.
Almost every song on the album feels fun loving but not all track purpose the same manic energy. “When Will You Come” is probably the slowest song on the album. While it does maintain the poppiness of the rest of the album, it replaces the manic energy with an almost Motown-era R&B feel.
In the end, there are a couple weak tracks or maybe the tracks only seem weak because of how strong the surrounding tracks are. Wavves joyous energy is infectious as is King of the Beach. When the biggest criticism of the album is its horrendous cover art, you know you have done something right.
Rating: 7.8/10
MP3: Wavves “King of the Beach”
Buy: iTunes or Insound!