Nathan Williams and Stephen Pope are back with their latest album and it's a punk rockers audio wet dream.
After a year of writing and recording, ‘Afraid Of Heights’ expands their sound while sticking to their original vision. John Hill (Nas, Wu-Tang, M.I.A. and Santigold) has produced an album that is a true expression of Wavves. Singer and guitarist Nathan Williams even paid for the recording sessions out of his own pocket! Can’t get much truer than that.
The opening two tracks set the pace of fast and frantic. ‘Sail To The Sun’ is a proto indie punk, raging with youthful bluster. The sound that Green Day years ago in favour of softer grounds. Next up ‘Demon To Lean On’ has a more Seattle-grunger tone if it wasn’t for Williams’ nasal vocals you’d thought that you’re listening into hearing a track from Incesticide.
‘Mystic’ does exactly was its name implies – crunchy guitars bounce up and down as a heavily affected vocal track rasps away. Back to intense punky vibes ‘Lunge Forward’ has a powerful feel with a chorus worth listening to. Lyrically Wavves are more astute with their words and normally whooping along is the usual escape route for those running out of ideas, here it works brilliantly adding to the crescendo.
The title track for the album has the most polished – if that’s oppropriate for such a reverbed song – and is layered nicely with lyrics, guitars and beats working in harmony. A standout track for sure – it’s easy to see why this gets the privilege of having the EP named after it. The ethereal ending shows Wavves have more than just verb and choruses in their arsenal. ‘Paranoid’ follows on and has a punchy upbeat manner that is a radio friendly burst of energy.
Surf-esque ‘Beat Me Up’ has a clappy fun quality but this enjoyment is ramped up for a choral highpoint that belies the words of the song.
Back to power grunge guitar stonker ‘That’s On Me’ has a maturity above the other tracks. Taking the sound of 90s alt rockers but melding it with up-to-date sensibilities. The pseudo-religious ramblings of ‘Gimme A Knife’, twisted samplings of children and punk pounding are another fine example of what Wavves are capable of.
Rounding off ‘Afraid Of Heights’ is the beautifully melancholy ‘I Can’t Dream’ has world weary lyrics over a ghostly soundscape that is delicate yet sinister. Almost a good shout for the song of the album. Almost.
Not getting carried away with the great tracks is hard but there’s a few songs that don’t match the siblings. ‘Cop’ – is a mix of punk and 60s revelry but ends but neither. The overly simple ‘Dog’ doesn’t fit well with the rest of the offering. ‘Everything Is My Fault’ is too eerie for its own good – sounding like Arcade Fire B-side.
Bonus track ‘Hippies Is Punks’ is available on the Pod version and features Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley, The Postal Service). It sways from dreamy indie to crisp power-punk. If the ending wasn’t good enough this bonus more than makes up for some of th weaker songs.
Harking back to the best that pop-punk has to offer and mixing it with Williams lines of a life in the hear and now, ‘Afraid Of Heights’ is an album worth owning if you’ve missed having guitar music that doesn’t conform to the usual.
‘Afraid Of Heights’ is out now through Pod via Inertia.
Tracklisting
- Sail To The Sun
- Demon To Lean On
- Mystic
- Lunge Forward
- Dog
- Afraid Of Heights
- Paranoid
- Cop
- Beat Me Up
- Everything Is My Fault
- That’s On Me
- Gimme A Knife
- I Can’t Dream
