Artist Wavves

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Wavves

For all its California-soaked cassette brightness, Wavves’ praised sophomore album (that would be Wavvves, with three Vs) drifts deep into dark sonic murkiness. Nathan Williams is the main man behind Wavves, and when his homemade songs aren’t drowning in restless 20-something bleakness (see: the steady occurrence of song titles including the word “goth”), they’re poking and prodding at the boundaries of pop deconstruction. A few public meltdowns and one Mountain Dew single later, Williams released King Of The Beach, an album that seems to poke fun at the buzzy “chillwave” trend as much as it rides it. The album marks a pretty big shift for Wavves toward a much cleaner and less gritty sound, courtesy of producer Dennis Herring along with the addition of a full rhythm section from the late Jay Reatard’s band.

Updated 07/27/2010