Album Review: The Vaccines - English Graffiti

Seemingly everyone became fast friends with The Vaccines when we first met the English rockers back in 2011.

A couple of albums later and they take a giant step forward to embrace a big, brash and bright sound that maintains a little of that guitar roughness around the edges but comes off sounding decidedly more polished and pop. The amusingly ironic swagger of Handsome has been reeling listeners in with its hooks for some weeks now. The influence of Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann is evident as he guides the band towards deploying a broader palette of sounds awash with instantly likeable synthesised psychedelics. None of this detracts from the unashamedly pop ambitions of this record. Cuts like Dream Lover and Minimal Affection seamlessly introduce synths, the latter strangely washing up sounding like The Strokes. The breathless urgency of break-up tune 20/20 delivers furious beats and angsty guitars all rolled into what’s sure to be one of those instantly anthemic classics that has fans bouncing at gigs.

The second half of the record slips into love song reverie with the dreamy Beatlesque (All Afternoon) In Love and the sexy grind of Want You So Bad. The Vaccines exhibit protean tendencies with Give Me A Sign exploring boy band territory with indie edge. It seems so fitting that they once teasingly asked us “What did you expect?” Throwing us a curveball, English Graffiti suggests a rethink that has The Vaccines ripe for crossover and global domination.