V

Nathan Williams continues to refine his bored-and-bratty, psychedelic surf-rock on Wavves’ fifth album, *V*. The San Diego native\'s basic songwriting preoccupations—I suck, life sucks, maybe life is actually kinda okay sometimes—endure, propelled by a now seamless fusion of raucous pop-punk and ‘60s bubblegum that’s worthy of Weezer. But nuance abounds. As Williams worries that he\'s \"getting worse” amid the opening crunch of “Heavy Metal Detox”, he also offers a layer of hope to the acidic shimmer of “Pony”, by way of the album’s most memorable chorus: “It gets better”.

Wavves' fifth album was inspired by a breakup, as well as a period of what Nathan Williams calls "just drinking, straight drinking." Accordingly, V sounds like a hangover. The best songs here will make for a welcome injection into his set list, reminding you of his keen ability for penning appealing "woe-is-me" anthems that won’t bruise you too badly in the pit.

Nathan Williams the wunderkind is no longer. Plenty removed from the combustible young agitator who was also a prolific whiz of lo-fi, bare-bones-produced garage punk, he now sports shiny major-label digs and a production budget to boot. He doesn’t seem to squander it at all, rather he uses it to bolster his poppy,…

Nathan Williams' fifth full-length sees him mine his pop influences again - less fruitfully than before.

Wavves may not have been the literal first band to usher in the surf-punk revival of the late aughts but they remain the…

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

Wavves have offered up an album that proves themselves as leaders in the punk pack.

Wavves' 2013 album Afraid of Heights was an over-produced, overly gloomy album that coated their previously loose and fun sound in layers of studio sheen.

There's still a punk aesthetic running through Nathan Williams' vision, yet Wavves have shed some of the more alluring aspects of their past.

By 2013's Afraid of Heights, Wavves' Nathan Williams had established himself as one of his generation's finest songwriters, writing hook aft...

In a really clever, niche and in no way accidental manner, Wavves might have come up with the perfect allegory for modern life with their fifth studio album, V. After all, back in 1997 Radiohead sang about a man who "buzzes like a fridge," anthropomorphis

Review of 'V' by WAVVES, the band's new full-length album comes out on October 2nd via Ghost Ramp/Warner Bros. The new single "Pony" is now streaming.