Album review: The Vaccines -- What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

OUR friends across the Atlantic have been blessed with a stellar roster of guitar bands capable of creating colossal works of thrilling pop music.
Throughout the past decade, the land of the free has berthed The Walkmen, The National, The Strokes etc – mouth-watering acts capable of thrusting six-strings to the forefront of their unrivalled sound.
Now it’s the UK’s turn to topple the American behemoths in the form of The Vaccines – albeit ten years late.
The London-based four-piece, who only formed less than a year ago, have been touted as saviours of the UK indie scene by the likes of NME, the BBC and Clash magazine – similar to the soup of excitement served up for the Arctic Monkeys. Back in 2005, Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner exclaimed “don’t believe the hype” at the beginning of the video for breakout single I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. Thankfully, the frenzy surrounding the Sheffield scallywags was justified. Debut album Whatever You Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not provided a humorous mouth-piece of post-teen life in everyday scenarios that listeners could connect with.
But can The Vaccines’ What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (note the similar quirky album title) dive into hyperbole and emerge with their early promise in tact?
Well, it depends on what you were really expecting. If you yearned for 30+ minutes of occasionally stimulating, hook-driven indie pop, this is the album for you. If you thought you’d found the UK’s version of The Strokes or The Walkmen, prepare to be disappointed.
The Vaccines are at their best when making anthems perfect for beered-up football terraces.
Riotous opener Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) is fantastic; an urgent 80-second blast thumping drums and punk-driven, distorted guitar melodies, while front man Justin Young screams from the roof tops.
If You Wanna continues Wreckin’ Bar’s energy, forming a galloping pop number on the tribulations of a failing relationship, and its catchy chorus “If you wanna come back, it’s alright” instantly infiltrates the mind, while bouncy pop-punk Norgaard resurrects the much-missed The Rakes with its energetic strumming and candid lyrics on the fairer sex.
The Vaccines are also a dab hand at ploughing through shoegazey epics, such as the grandiose Blow It Up and the dizzying All In White.
But what stops The Vaccines from breaking through the ceiling of mediocrity is their inconsistency. For every catchy pop track (Wreckin’ Bar, If You Wanna), there’s dreary filler (Wetsuit, Under Your Thumb).
Also, Young clearly has the talent to unleash his emotions and inner-most feelings onto paper in some tracks, but in others the lyrics seem rushed and half-hearted.
Post Break-Up Sex is a song that should reflect the fragile, mind-fuck of break-ups; the insecurity, the fear, the sorrow, the sense of loss – we’ve all been there. Yeah, the lyrics are on par (I can barely look at you, don’t tell me who you lost it to/Didn’t we say we had a deal? Didn’t I say how bad I feel?). Unfortunately, the end result here is dry, insipid and rarely goes above second gear.
There’s no denying WDYEFTV? is a solid, if uninspiring debut, but the hype surrounding The Vaccines and regular mainstream airplay will ensure success, regardless of how good the music is.
So I guess the question that needs to be asked is “what can we expect from The Vaccines future?” Hopefully an album of consistent quality, either consistently great or consistently shit. Either way, it’ll be a hell of a lot easier to write about.