On Waves, their third and final album, the guys in New Orleans indie punk outfit Donovan Wolfington go out on top. Fun, youthful, and packed with energy, Waves is a natural evolution of their punk-rooted sound, which has seen the band dip into hardcore and heavy metal over the course of three albums, without ever straying too far from a sound that owes much to Nirvana, Weezer, and Pavement. Vocalist Neil Berthier takes plenty of cues from those bands' frontmen, affecting Kurt Cobain's wounded screams ("Ways"), Rivers Cuomo's earnest delivery ("Church of Gravity"), and Stephen Malkmus' imperfect vocals ("Low"). Waves is tight at nine songs and clocks in under 30 minutes, leaving little room for boredom or distraction, resulting in a highly enjoyable burst of no-frills rock. Aside from the brief outlier "Kanye" (inspired by that song's namesake and his love of 808s), Waves is a respectful ode to the '90s scene and a bittersweet farewell to Donovan Wolfington, who delivered on their promise with this fine release.