Critiques CD: Wavves | Afraid of Heights

With record number four Nathan Williams, a.k.a. Wavves, reaches for the stars, grasping for those large audiences that have so far eluded his much-hyperboled but under-the-radar young career. On his new record and first for the major leagues, the twenty-something Williams – voice, guitar, songwriting – sheds much of the fuzz and gunk that encircled his deep-down pop rock and roll in favor of a shiny tint of audio candy. To wit, leadoff track Sail To The Sun comes in loud and clear, brash, loud and a little blah, full of sun, surf and sand, echoing much of the record. Afraid of Heights throws in plenty vocal harmonies, assorted odds and ends (piano, acoustic guitar, strings), with the whole slickly thrown together by producer John Hill (Rihanna, P!nk, Shakira), however what’s missing is the punk snottiness and laissez faire slackness that made the first Wavves records so enjoyable. Sigh…