Wavves
Spun
GHOST RAMP
It’s still funny to think of Wavves as a pop-punk band. Long wielding a songbook smothered in layers of lo-fi fuzz and slacker ennui—even as their sound has increasingly been polished up—their snotty surf anthems have been embraced by the indie-rock crowd at least as far back as 2010’s King of the Beach. However, the indexical trace of a Travis Barker production cred on the band’s new album Spun is evidence that the venerable four-piece are separated from pop-punk by only the finest of aesthetic distinctions, and may be gradually erring closer to the genre’s cleanly crafted approach with each passing release.
The opening track of the LA group’s eighth album surmises the project’s polished palette. It’s Wavves through and through: infectious vocal melodies, fuzzy guitars, stoned tales of beachside melancholia. And “stoned” here is no throwaway descriptive cliché—Wavves frontman and founder Nathan Williams recently launched the cannabis brand Wavvy Supply Co. So in case anyone was worried that Williams—and, thus, Wavves’ output—was on course for some sort of vibe shift, rest assured that the tone of these 13 tracks remains the heady, sunny same as ever.
What longtime fans will find different, however, is the layer of production cleanliness that Spun is coated with. Older tricks like distorted drums, along with myriad guitar and vocal effects, are almost wholly eschewed. The aforementioned Barker-produced “Goner” features some of the most clean-sounding guitars Wavves have ever used, while “Gillette Bayonet” is the most blink-182 they’ve ever sounded, right down to its title. The idea, presumably, is that because Williams’ songwriting is so eternally strong, stripping these songs of their affectations will have no effect on their quality. This will probably be a divisive choice for some fans—particularly on a track like “New Creatures,” where the hi-fi production polish shines so bright you practically need sunglasses.
In Spun’s defense, the rest of Wavves’ discography features as much, if not more, production tinkering and stylization. It’s just that in the past, it was used to warp their surfy power-pop bangers into something more colorful and significantly unusual. Here, the songs remain strong, yet there’s something missing: a degree or two of eccentricity that means the record doesn’t live as long in the memory as their previous works. It’s still a fun summer album—Wavves have the ability to conjure that sun-scorched mood on lock—but also one that lacks a few splashes of personality.
