The Waeve set the bar exceptionally high with their debut album. Rose Elinor Dougall and Graham Coxon hurl themselves back into the studio, looking to impress again. Prodding away at new sounds and styles on City Lights, their first new release of the year, provides an inspired continuation of their art-rock wonders. Their efforts last year bagged Coxon and Dougal a deserved top spot on the Top 100 Albums of 2023, and with this single, they tease the first signs of another world-beating piece of work. Those darker tones brought on by brass and booming electronics remain. Now they provide ample material for the duo to wax lyrical about horrors of the unknown and known, the gritty nature of the dark streets where cynical characters are at play.
A track which sounds initially influenced by the deep cuts of Tom Verlaine’s Cover but soon expands into those steady guitar wonders Coxon is rightly hailed for, City Lights feels like a continuation of the style but a growth in image for The Waeve. His work here is the disgustingly perfect collection of riffs Coxon has always provided, and City Lights is more than happy to let it breathe. It becomes the core of a single where Dougall is notably absent on lead vocal duties, but her responsibilities in holding the instrumental sections together are a necessary shift. Its machine guns and bombs in the first verse give way to those gangster flicks, as does the sharp white suit Coxon is wearing on the cover of this single. City Lights benefits tremendously from those somewhat seedy undertakings. It threatens and whines as it destroys minds and takes ownership of other souls. The Waeve navigate those moments with care, bleeding pangs of instrumental wonder before breaking into a saxophone solo, rallying around an instrumental shot in the dark.
Had it not been for the expectedly wonderful and jagged instrumentals this latest piece from The Waeve would be a romantic flurry of companionship. Coxon and Dougall work tirelessly to feed this balance. Within is a brutal and self-destroying passion. Those lyrics of being pulled into someone’s arms and this dedication to the unknown of tomorrow are matched with an uncomfortable, sinister bit of guitar work. The two bleed together with their best bits intact and City Lights becomes a firm example of collaborative experience learned in the studio and on the stage. Pairing their already ample experience brings out a wonderful new piece, though one looking to feed its fresher influences and not so much the Van Der Graaf Generator which fuelled their self-titled debut.
Where The Waeve was built on calmer sections slowly feeding into bursts of adrenalin-pumping instrumentals the first slice of a new era for The Waeve gives City Lights its rapid and spiralling energy. Frenetic and poised on the same distorted imagery which made their previous songs so marvellous, Coxon and Dougall are back with a bang. Groaning, tense guitar work shifts under those tortured vocals on another brilliant bit of moody wonder from The Waeve. It’ll sit well for those enamoured by the black-and-white imagery which came with their first album. Dougall and Coxon have another great track to stick their name on – and get the ball rolling on what should be a fruitful summer for their studio collaborations.
