Wavves released their third album King of the Beach in 2010, one week
after Best Coast's debut album Crazy for You. Bethany Cosentino's surf
rock influenced lo-fi reminisced Wavves' Nathan Williams of his two lo-fi albums.
The two bands go hand in hand, the Mother and Father of Californian indie /
surf / lo-fi. Wavves consists of two members, Williams and his right hand
man Stephen Pope. Their fourth album Afraid of Heights will be out later
this month, and the third pre-release track "Demon to Lean On", could be a
reason to be excited.
"Demon to Lean On" is stacked full of powerful chords in the style
of 90s American alternative rock. Think Pavement hit with some dirty punk
influenced Green Day. We already have one of these bands, and they're called
Cloud Nothing's, and Wavves are no different to the post-punk revival-esque
post-The Strokes, 00s indie rock generation. Having power chords and a dreary
vocal is a step towards pop-punk, and for the low fidelity that defines Wavves,
well it's no more, just like the lack of lo-fi on Best Coast's sophomore album The
Only Place released last year.
This track is an improvement over the grunge frenzy "Sail to the
Sun". I'm still not convinced with Wavves, and I probably won't be for a
very long time. Williams has been developing a sound ever since starting
out, and he's still unable to find his own sound. The regurgitation of 90s
alternative rock has to stop at some point; however the end is not in sight
just yet. We can expect variety with fourth album Afraid of Heights, but
don't expect it to be the right variety.
~Eddie