Wavves – Hideaway review

It might be an aphorism that’s bland to the point of meaningless, but it remains true to say that good things can still come from bad places. Wavves frontman Nathan Williams had a dysfunctional – but for contemporaries no less familiar – brush with major label inertia prior to beginning what would become Hideaway, an unfulfilling period that after left him writing songs in a tiny garden shed at his parents San Diego home.

Some of his frustration was that Wavves had formerly carved themselves a niche in American indie rock terms with their third album King of the Beach, it’s bratty garage essence kind of refreshing when measured against the penitent hermitery of Bon Iver or Fleet Foxes.

As well as being dumped unceremoniously back into the world, the pandemic’s vice like grip meant that any notion of anniversary touring King of the Beach was also stuck on long term hold. Williams wrote sporadically as a result and it took a meeting with TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek to make him realise there was something there worth committing to; for whatever reason, the outcome is Wavves best music in over a decade.

Not that William’s angst is in any way filtered, Strokesy opener Thru Hell featuring lines like ‘I’ll do my best to hideaway/From all of the bullshit chasing me’, but sonically at least the title track’s clattering waltz and Help is on the Way’s glorious scuzz-out a la peak Evan Dando are the new career high watermarks you found yourself rooting to hear. For it’s creator, Hideaway might be a small piece of the emotional jigsaw called redemption.

You can read a full review here.