Album Review: Wavves - Afraid of Heights

The video for 2010’s ‘King of the Beach’ showed Wavves’ Nathan Williams and Stephen Pope playing video games, printing money and smoking gold-flaked joints - generally having a sweet time. It pretty much summed up impressions of the band and their three albums thus far. More so, it reflected something of a high-tide mark for a whole scene in which Wavves played a large part - lo-fi, garage revivalists who knew how to have fun in a time of depressed job markets. More recently, Williams has spoken about the realities of growing up - paying a mortgage, financing his work, and losing his ego in the process. Not surprisingly, Afraid Of Heights comes off as more of a fully-fledged piece of work. And while there’s still a strong sense of slacker rebellion on the album, one can’t help but feel that it closes the book on a long summer of hazy indie nostalgia.

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