The Vaccines - English Graffiti: Album Review

The Vaccines have quickly risen to become one of the UK’s favourite bands. Going from being a supporting band for Arctic Monkeys at the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena in London, to headlining it only a mere two years later. The Vaccines are well known for their electric live shows as much as they are for their two stand out albums in the form of ‘What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?’ and ‘Come of Age’, the former establishing the band as an exciting new indie band with a collection of fast and catchy tunes, and the latter building on that formula with more depth. ‘English Graffiti’, The Vaccines new album, brings all those elements together and fuses them along a new, darker sound that displays a newfound love for experimentation in the band.

‘English Graffiti’ begins with ‘Handsome’, a song that wouldn’t be out of place on The Vaccines debut album. It’s quick, it’s undeniably catchy, and most of all it’s a fantastic start to an album. ‘Dream Lover’ follows and that riff, it’s massive, and not too dissimilar in to Arctic Monkeys ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ ‘Dream Lover’ also has a chorus that you will find stuck in your head for days on end.

‘20/20’, one of the highlights on ‘English Graffiti’, has an intensity that can only make you want to lose your mind; it’s a fun song with similarities to ‘Bad Mood’ from second album ‘Come of Age’. It’s excellent, with the line ‘Hindsight sees in 20/20’ being a particular favourite of mine.

‘Denial’ is in a similar boat with ‘Minimal Affection’ as being a song that experiments with the formula that The Vaccines are used to, its funky, and the bass tone warbles underneath the gritty distorted guitars that drive the track. The psychedelic bridge notably wouldn’t be out of place on a Tame Impala record. ‘Want U So Bad’ is perhaps the most experimental of the tracks on this album; it’s dark, brooding and one of the best tracks on the album. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that this is The Vaccines ‘Humbug’ moment. The lyrics fit in with many of Justin Young’s lyrics on this album, being very personal and incredibly relatable, something that Justin has always been exceptionally good at in previous records; but on ‘English Graffiti’, these lyrics really seep into your heart and bring out those memories of heartbreak, love, delusion and disappointment. 

‘Radio Bikini’, sits next to ‘Handsome’ as being a short blast of energy that quickly passes by, but is no less enjoyable, the track features a lot of Freddie Cowan’s guitar tricks and delay effects that bring the intensity of the track up. This moves on towards ‘Maybe I Could Hold You’, a darker and slower song to the others on the album, very atmospheric and bathed in reverberated guitars. ‘Give Me A Sign’, the penultimate tack on ‘English Graffiti’, is unfortunately a low point on an otherwise seamless album. Simply put it’s cheesy, and clichéd, with the song titled repeated throughout and the music accompanying it being uninspiring and flat. It’s a shame but luckily every other song overshadows it. The album ends on a strange instrumental song, but still fitting into the experimental undertones of the album in ‘Undercover’, just over a minute long, it features backwards guitars and feels like a suitable conclusion to ‘English Graffiti’.

‘English Graffiti’ is by far The Vaccines most comprehensive release yet, featuring aspects from what got them to where they are now in songs like ‘Handsome’ and ‘20/20’ and songs leading to a newer direction in ‘Want U So Bad’ and ‘Maybe I Could Hold You’, apart from one hiccup, the album is brilliant and raises all expectations for what The Vaccines could achieve.

8/10