Wavves
‘King Of The Beach’
(Bella Union)

On first listen, ‘King Of The Beach’ is almost unrecognisable as a Wavves record; having peeled away about 37 layers of distortion, Nathan Williams has produced an LP that’s, deep breath, almost commercial. You can hear the lyrics, actively discern each instrument from the mass and the whole thing is riddled with insanely catchy potential, umm, singles. Luckily though, beneath the semi-polish (there’s still more than a little fuzz left) lies a ramshackle, garage romp of a record that takes the self-loathing lyricisms of old and puts them to a ball-busting, Turbo Fruitsstyle anarchic soundtrack – Wavves have evolved and taken advantage of having a recording budget of more than 50p. ‘King Of The Beach’ should, finally, more than justify the whirlwinds of hype.

Lisa Wright