Review: Wavves – Wavvves
Wavves – Wavvves (2009) [Fat Possum] // Grade: B
The digital age has made home recording so cheap, easy and high quality that we’ve seen a proliferation of albums that, a decade a go would have needed some major label backing or a sweet studio hook-up to sound as good as they do. So as a result (and it should be no surprise) over the past couple of years there’s been a steady and reactionary lo-fi movement trying to ebb the tide. I already wrote about the Blank Dogs out here in NY, but the Wavves on the westcoast are another such band ushering in a new generation of the lo-fi sound aesthetics that dominated the 80s & 90s indie scenes.
Their second album, Wavvves plays like a loose string of yarn that every so often bunches up into tight ball of a composition (i.e. “So Bored”) only to unravel back again just as quickly as it came together. Bt what makes it so damn enjoyable is Wavves’ pure unadulterated enthusiasm for their journey from points A to B and back to A again. Like a fledgling guitarist overjoyed at mastering a Metallica riff and playing it over and over again until his confidence takes him elsewhere. That is the sort of contagious excitement & exuberance on display on Wavvves… Playing music for the simple pleasure of rocking out. While the album may fall short of creative or emotional depth if you sit and dissect it, but why the hell would you kill all the fun by doing so?
