Wavves, The Lexington, London

’ visit to the UK has caused quite a stir on the music scene: this is the new act to follow, he’s been floating around for a while and he’s now finally here. Interesting really, to think how well we all know his stuff, when his only official UK release has been the single ‘I’m So Bored’, which came out on Monday.

The venue is pretty damn full, although I don’t know if that’s because Women are headlining, or whether it’s part of the enthusiasm for Wavves. Either way, the place is packed, and I’m hard pushed to get a glimpse of the stage. Suddenly, as I am now blind, and can only hear what’s going on, a friendly, happy voice rises above the excited murmurs of the crowd to say: “La la la la di la la. Hi, we’re Wavves. Can I get more on my mic? La la la la. Guitar? More guitar?” The standard ‘funny’ guy in the audience shouts back: “More fucking guitar! Yeah!” The soft voice giggles and then there’s noise. Sweet sweet noise. But not quite what I was expecting from Wavves.

When listening to any material on record, the sound that emits is multi-dimensional. It can fill a whole room. Drones and loudness. Loudness. Live music should normally stick with the latter at least, but for the first time in my life, I feel slightly disappointed; calmness. This lack is, however, greatly counterbalanced by a shiny new discovery: Wavves, aka Nathaniel Williams, actually has a really good singing voice. You know all the high pitched bits on tracks such as ‘Wavves’? The “oooh ooh ooh ooh ooouoouh oooooh”? Yeah, well that’s him. He goes high, and then very low. What a nice little talent. On top of that, he does it so pleasantly. The few glimpses I manage to get of him show a young guy bobbing up and down, all smiles and puppet like features. I also realise the crowd aren’t the only ones to blame in seeing nothing: Williams is very small.

The show is well digested: all the better known tunes are played. The crowd smile and mumble along to ‘Weed Demon’, ‘Beach Demon’ and newbie ‘I’m So Bored’. The set comes to a close with the much loved ‘Wavves’. It’s an odd vibe: technically, Wavves is super super new, yet everyone in the room has probably already bought his album on import, despite the financial expense of it. New kid on the block? I think not, and with his first UK gigs being this popular and his coming being such a big deal, I think we have a bit of an ‘all time fave’ coming into shore.