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HIDEAWAY

Spike Sidor
Wavves Hideaway Review Album Cover

WAVVES

2021 POP-PUNK/POWER-POP

Hideaway is an album by Cali indie rock and pop punk outfit Wavves. They’ve been at it for a while now with this being their seventh full length release and I’d like to say its been up and down for the band but really it’s been a steady plateau of mediocrity; with of course the notable exception for 2010s King of the Beach. An irreverent stoned out, hard on his luck surfer who’s getting dumb tattoos and flipping off yuppies at his favorite stretch of sand. It’s fun but it’s not like the other Wavves albums aren’t trying to be fun, they certainly are, the difference lies in the mythical descriptor, quality. The quality of the songwriting, the hooks, the performances, the recording, the very ideas.

When listening to the rest of the discography it may seem like a flash in the pan, an accident, but great records are not a matter of good fortune and yet Wavves still find it in themselves to test these words once again with Hideaway. At least on prior releases you could count on the lead up singles being killer but here it’s constant stream of the flaccid and forgettable. It’s frowned upon to use insulting language in reviews but it feels lazy, or to be more polite, complacent. Funnily enough, the opener titled Thru Hell, is my favorite track on the record. A choppy stop start riff guides the verses with themes of, I don’t like anyone, everything sucks, I’m a romanticized image of a mess. Get comfortable with these generalized topics because you are going to be hanging with them for the next half hour. That being said, the lyrics are serviceable and zero eyes were rolled, plus a hook that is catchy and caught me off guard, not sure what it means, but i like it.

Like a terror takin’ over the Earth
Like an atom bomb
Like the beauty of a mother at birth
Like an animal

The title track comes marching in with its steady instrumental. It’s the definition of meh, sometimes the lyrics are okay, sometimes they are much too melodramatic.

I don’t care if times erasing me
It’s been torture existing this long

A bit much but quickly forgotten after Help is on the Way comes bounding in with all the obnoxious flair of theater kids at karaoke. The vocal delivery starts off uncharming and  lackadaisical transitioning to an overblown chorus then to effect driven drivel on the verses with the worst offender somehow being the do-doot backing vocals. The second verse is especially painful,

Hiding hate away
It’s like a river wants to drown, drown me
And then the dam breaks
I’m out the flood gates
I’m gonna let the water carry me away now

The goofy affectation he tosses around does it no favors. Sinking Feeling brings us back to the solid ground of thoroughly average. A breezy rock instrumental with an acoustic guitar riffing away in the background. It’s fine, I have near nothing to say, it evokes no interest which is a trait that runs through all of Hideaway. The pace is slowed just a step with Honeycomb which stands out by having the vaguest of the vague lyrics about the world being shit. 

It’s cool
It’s great
Just pretend I’m okay
Nothing’s wrong
Nothing changed
It’s just a new day

Wavves then checks to see if you are falling asleep with a thigh slapping alt-country jam of all things on The Blame. The audience may have been alerted to attention but the singer deflates any momentum by droning on like he’s giving a high school book report. We are gifted with throwback Wavves style, peppy punky and lyrics about the babe of your dreams, but the song, Marine Life, itself is mild at best. At times you can feel the effect that can happen on below average records, when an okay track turns into a good track by being surrounded by groaners. That is the case for Planting a Garden, an enjoyable burst of electric guitar on the chorus and lyrics that ride the line of amusing and whiney, it’s eh but sure seems top-shelf in this company. The album closes out in surprising grace with Caviar. Smooth and drowsy, leaning back in your favorite chair relishing, perhaps too hard, the freedom you’ve afforded. 

I’ll come home to you
When I wanna
And that’s the end girl
Forever

The scratchy extension of “I’ll” hits the spot, a small ingredient that makes the track. Yeah, it ends well enough, but if you’ve been keeping score it’s what? Two solid songs and seven average or below, not stellar numbers. I’d file Hideaway under “only listen if you are a fan” and if you are one you probably gave up after tasting the lifeless singles weeks earlier. Wavves are full on coasting, completely out of gas. Vibing with their feet up, roach in the tray, letting gravity do the work on this light decline. 

3-4/10

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