I have mixed feelings about Wavves, with a couple great songs per album, and a lot of noisy filler, a listening experience that is charmingly sunburned and wasted, or messy and tuneless, depending on your mood.
Here though, the sudden garage superstar proves that he's got hooks that can stand on their own, rather than relying on lo-fi soft-focus to get by, bursting with Beulah-huge splendor (with better vocals) and GBV-worthy vocal melodies. And the actual lyrics are curiously charming, twisty and off-kilter. Little touches of production mastery abound (the stomach-dropping kickin from the chorus of standout I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl, the frayed guitar ambiance under Best Coast oohs on Nodding Off).
The last couple of songs lose some of the energy, getting into that sludgier territory that the first couple albums kept slipping into, TV Luv Song being too repetitive, and the Animal Collective-aping Mickey Mouse being just too, well, Animal Collectivey. But framed in an EP, these missteps are easier to forgive as experiments, and you can focus on the bits that stick in your joy-craw. Worth keeping an eye on this guy, who continues to show an uncommon balance of solid songwriting chops, spastic adventurousness and burnt charm 4/5
You might like this if: You like noisy, punk-dusted, post-grunge, with a lo fi edge, lo fi cred, and a dollop of sloppy experimentation.
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