By “We wanted to make something that sounds amazing next year and then terrible in 10 years!” is what The Vaccines frontman, Justin Young said a few months ago in an interview with NME. Will just have to wait and see if those words that he’ll live to regret. If you compare The Vaccines other indie rock/ garage rock bands, they are the best around. And ‘English Graffiti’ is no exception.
First track and popular single, Handsome brings back the fast paced guitars from songs like Norgaard and Wrekin’ Bar. And also includes some weird, Star Wars like creatures in their music video. This song isn’t quite the same band you remember and it may not even be the band they ultimately become, however it works right now for the band.
Even when ‘English Graffiti’ sounds like The Vaccines, it’s a louder, more colourful, hyper-stylised version. ’20/20’ feeds bits and pieces from The Jam and The Beach Boys – just a couple of famous punk and pop bands on this planet. Dan Grech on 2011 debut ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’ and Ethan Johns on 2012’s ‘Come Of Age’, who seemed content to let them just plug in and play. And Dan then outdoes himself further on ‘Dream Lover’ by making Freddie Cowan’s five-note guitar riff sound like a clumsy giant coming into view, wailing sirens and cheap movie synths. The result is possibly the best – and certainly the biggest – thing they’ve ever recorded. Listen to 20/20 below!
‘Radio Bikini’ and ‘20/20’ offer the sort of high-octane, romantic love at first sight material that could have fitted on their debut. Justin’s lyrics “I’m through thinking about you” has a sharp, sardonic swagger to match its raw energy, rather like punk re-imagined by Sparks. ‘(All Afternoon) In Love’ is a gorgeously soft, airy song, like letting the wind just blow through your hand during a car journey. While the tension created in “Want You So Bad” by pitting a damped guitar figure against a distorted guitar riff is wasted on a throwaway song. A similar mismatch mars “Maybe I Could Hold You”, where harmonies are at odds with the soft drums and heavy swirl of keyboards.
The vocals on the chorus of ‘Give Me a Sign’, sounds stunning, something that is hardly heard in that context could be bellowed by Justin Young and be heard around world. Young did say he wants ‘English Graffiti’ to be ‘genre-defining’, but ‘genre-encompassing’ is probably more accurate.
Will we look back on English Graffiti’ in 10 years’ time and laugh at how bad the album sounds compared to newer music? But we’ll almost certainly look back on it as the moment where the question ‘What did you expect from The Vaccines?’ is no longer a straightforward answer.
