Afraid Of Heights

by 
AlbumMar 26 / 201314 songs, 45m 27s97%
Indie Rock
Popular
7.8 / 10

Afraid of Heights is the proper full-length follow-up to Wavves' 2010 breakthrough King of the Beach*.* Working with producer John Hill, it's Nathan Williams' best-sounding album to date, with touches of strings and background vocals from Jenny Lewis.

B

The production credits on Wavves’ fourth album are misleading, to say the least. The only thing remotely hip-hop about Afraid Of Heights is a song called “Cop,” which, in the longstanding tradition of N.W.A and Ice-T, is about offing some officers of the law. But producer John Hill (whose credits include M.I.A.,…

6 / 10

7 / 10

With his fourth full-length, LA's Nathan Williams delivers a consistently fun whistlestop tour of his nineties influences

Four albums in, you’d have thought the joke would be wearing thin for Wavves’ Nathan Williams.

7.5 / 10

Some artists might mature, but you never really want them to grow up. Alternative radio is practically held together by…

Check out our album review of Artist's Afraid of Heights on Rolling Stone.com.

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After the fizzy psych-punk of his last album, King of the Beach, Wavves frontman Nathan Williams seemingly discovered a stash of albums from the '90s and sank deeply under their spell while writing and recording the 2013 follow-up, Afraid of Heights.

8 / 10

Following Nathan Williams' 2009 public breakdown, few would have guessed that the San Diego artist would still be making music in 2013, let alone pumping out records as insanely catchy as Afraid of Heights.

6.0 / 10

Thus follows the Under the Radar guide to writing a decent surf rock song. (1) Get the guitars out and play something a bit Dinosaur Jr.-y. (2) Sound, like, laid back and whatever, dude. (3) Do something a bit Beach Boys-y, like a vocal harmony, some chim

6 / 10

Afraid of Heights points to a set of punk-rock signifiers rather than thoughtfully engaging with them.

7 / 10

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7 / 10