Wavves: Afraid Of Heights

Given that the most prominent American rock bands of the 21st century – The Strokes, White Stripes, Animal Collective – generally have quite a positive, upbeat feel, it’s easy to forget just how dark and nihilistic US rock was in the ‘90s. Everyone from Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins to Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails was preaching a gospel of alienation and despair. Such anguished music has been kept to the sidelines in recent times but San Diego punk trio Wavves are doing their best to put angst-laden rock centrestage once again.

Singer Nathan Williams has clearly had a few demons to battle in his time, given that he suffered a public breakdown onstage at the Primavera festival in 2009, announcing that he had taken a cocktail of ecstasy and valium, before proceeding to bait the crowd who returned the favour by pelting him with bottles and a shoe. In the course of issuing the inevitable apology the following day, Williams admitted he was battling an alcohol addiction.
The singer certainly gets plenty off his chest on Afraid Of Heights, the musical textures of which are consistently unsettling and abrasive. There’s the jerky punk-funk of opening track ‘Sail To The Sun’, the fuzzed-up blitz of ‘Demon To Lean On’ (‘The truth is that it hurts... We’ll die the same losers’) and the NIN-like heaviness of ‘Mystic’. Whilst Wavves’ punk-rock assault can be thrilling, it gets a little trying over the course of an album, and given that they lack the songwriting chops of Kurt Cobain, Trent Reznor or Josh Homme, the upper end of the Billboard chart is going to remain decidedly untroubled.
Still, it’s refreshing to hear a blast of cynicism in amongst the hipster-posing so prominent in indie rock at the moment, and fans of attitudinal, no frills alt.rock will have little room for complaint.

Key Track: ‘Demon To Lean On’