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Live Review: LISTEN: Sweet Valley 'Total Carnage'

26 July 2012 | 10:30 am | Staff Writer

Perennial wild-child Nathan Williams is back with a new project 'Sweet Valley'. Hannah Galvin gives us her insight...

If you thought WAVVES' self-titled debut sounded quite different to King Of The Beach, wait until you hear Nathan Williams' debut release for new side project SWEET VALLEY.

The  WAVVES frontman has teamed up with his brother Kynan Williams and has brought to the table a delicious Summer cocktail consisting of fruity guitar, tropical synths and distorted lyrics that make you feel as though you're underwater.

Their first single, 'Total Carnage' opens with a chopped up sample of THE FOUR SEASONS' 'Bye Bye Baby.'

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About ten seconds in, it sounds as though the track has been sabotaged by a combustion of instruments. From this point on, everything is on loop and you are ironically told to “Stay calm,” regardless of how busy everything seems to have become.

Although excessively enigmatic, SWEET VALLEY's first single offers a real fun, dance-able, surf vibe which makes it impossible to listen to sitting still. Even the folded-arms among us  will powerfully feel the need to bop along!

Since co-producing the record with John Hill (SANTIGOLD, M.I.A.), Williams has been interested in exploring and experimenting with sounds other than his signature punk, lo-fi, garage rock.

In an interview with Spin earlier this year, he explained, “I wanted to make a soundtrack to getting drunk this Summer, and this is what I thought it should sound like.” With 'Total Carnage' possessing electronic, LSD infused beats, I think it's safe to say that the entirety of Stay Calm will be easily partied to.

The sweet and sunny bliss of Stay Calm will be available to your ears 8th August and is to be released via Fool's Gold Records.

Words by Hannah Galvin