English Indie band The Vaccines, were formed in 2010 in
West London and released their debut record ‘What
Did You Expect from the Vaccines’
just last March. It peaked at number 4 in the UK Album Chart and spawned seven of the eleven track album as
singles, including ‘Nørgaard’, ‘If You
Wanna’, ‘Wetsuit’ and ‘Wreckin' Bar
(Ra Ra Ra)’. The band have been compared to the likes of The Ramones and The Strokes, despite their fist-pumping Indie-Pop style.
Having already peaked at number 1 in the UK Album Chart, has already awarded The Vaccines with fantastic commercial success.
‘No Hope’ is as festival-perfect as ‘Nørgaard’,and as Indie as ever, if a
little dreary and half-hearted. Justin
Young’s vocals also come across as drab and lazy, and ‘I Always Knew’ shows very little progression over the last year,
and the band’s unfortunate complacence. They appear to have done the bare
minimum with regards to varying their flair and the tracks are repetitive, but
as catchy as eczema.
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| Artwork: 'Come of Age' |
‘Teenage
Icon’ is more produced than other tracks however, proving that The Vaccines care more for success through
singles than the album itself, or the music they actually create. ‘All in Vein’ conveys a hint of Surf
Rock, but tedious and underdeveloped lyrics; ‘You can’t hold a gun to my head/ ‘cause
baby I would just refuse.’ (Surely that goes without saying in a relationship?)
‘Ghost Town’, certainly does what it
says on the tin to begin with, with a gloomy intro and lifeless melody, and
when played live, it’s about as energetic as road kill. The best thing about it
is that it’s barely two tedious minutes long!
Yet another lacklustre track, ‘Aftershave Ocean’ is begging for a
response as to why the band refused to take more time to develop musically, and
as people between albums. ‘Weirdo’ is
very monotonous and Justin Young’s
vocals are simply not strong enough to carry such a simply produced song. Out
of the darkness of a dry, lifeless heap of tracks come ‘Bad Mood’, ‘Change of Heart Pt. 2’ and ‘I Wish I was a Girl,’ which
still make use of classic Indie
influences like the rest of the tracks, but less in the style of The Strokes and more of a Foo Fighters flair. It still lacks charm
lyrically, but the instrumentation is, particularly the guitaring.
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| The Vaccines |
The track design of ‘Come of Age’ is appalling; soaring from some great Indie-pop singles,
to mind-numbing compositions, and right back to bright and bubbly songs towards
the end. Very little production-effort has been put into the five tracks that
make up the middle of the album, which really lets it down. Along with weak
vocals, mostly drab melodies and just one emotion-based track ‘Lonely World’,(which, in itself is excessively
instrumental) ‘Come of Age’ is definitely nothing to write home about!
2/5
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