Three years ago, I was more than pleased for The Vaccines. I was a massive fan of their debut album and Come of Age was seen as a step in the right direction, delivering a superb follow-up album with a subtle, but needed change in style that proved the band could do more than their then stereotypical short and sweet rock songs.
If Come of Age was, at the time, The Vaccines biggest evolution, then new album English Graffiti is the equivalent of man sprouting wings. Fuzzy, noisy wings.
One of the most radical changes on the record is the band have all but two songs, have fully ditched the idea of releasing Buddy Holly-esq two minute rock tracks and moved into the familiar territory of three-four minutes of standard rock 'n' roll. Surprisingly, only two tracks run over four minutes this time around so the longer showcases on Come of Age are kept at a minimum.
Opener Handsome is the bridge between albums in terms of song structure. It's the second shortest song on the record and builds for a blitzing chorus and it's typical Vaccines; short and sweet. Dream Lover in the meanwhile is a cavalcade of fuzzy guitars, catchy chorus and simple percussion making it a superb pop-rock number. Minimal Affection, along with Handsome, is again reminiscent of earlier Vaccines, A Lack of Understanding with synths if you will.
More change is demonstrated with (All Afternoon) In Love, an almost slow, psychedelic love song with vocal effects, piano leading and again, a catchy hook for the chorus. Penultimate closer Give Me a Sign encompasses all of the heavier elements of the record into a loud and fun track, again it's catchy and the riff is power chord heaven, I love this track and it's so different from the preceding albums closers that it sticks out.
So, the album is surely another successful metamorphosis that carries over what made the band so endearing I hear you ask? Could it possibly be the converted best album?
Unfortunately, no. It's weird because it's becoming a regular statement in terms of follow-up albums, but, English Graffiti is the worst Vaccines album...but it's not a bad record, in the slightest.
The biggest problem I have with this record is the production and mix. The heavy-handed metaphor towards the start of this review was not an awkward lead-in, but rather, the album, in one word is fuzzy.
Unlike the clean-cut sound of the band's first and second albums, English Graffiti is loud with guitar pedals firmly on...well, fuzzy. Whilst it's not as loud and poorly mixed as say, Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, guitars are firmly at the front of the mix with everything given this destroyed vinyl quality.
It shouldn't really come as a surprise as producer Dave Friddman has previously mixed two of Tame Impala's records. If you've listened to Lonerism, then you know what you're getting yourself in for, everything being noisy, everything mixed together rather than having distinct levels and everything given this intentional low quality, sixties loudness.
At first, I thought the album might have the same quirks as My Bloody Valentine of all people, where the music is intentionally mixed so it sounds different through different outputs, but English Graffiti just sounds poor in general. It's too loud and the subtle details of songs are lost because this.
This is the exact same problem I had with the Melody Calling EP, which preluded the direction the band was going for with this record. Whilst I love the title track and Do You Want a Man?, the production of both songs drove the audiophile in me insane, because it's sounds intentionally low quality, like an mp3 copy of song from a circa late-nineties KaZaA.
It's this that brings the record down. There's a distinct, loud and fun album trying to burst out, but it sounds like it's trapped in cheap amplifier. Whilst none of the tracks have the vinyl scratching that Do You Want a Man? added, it still sounds poor and an usual direction for a band which prior to this, sounded like they used very little overdubbing.
If you think this gives the album character, then awesome, but for me, it makes it too distracting and takes away details from the songs.
Again, it's another case of an album being technically the worst, but not actually being a bad record. Whilst not as catchy and easy to listen to as the band's first two records, English Graffiti is a good record, but unfortunately, not a step in the right direction.
It has a lot of enjoyable moments, but the change in sound is a tad too muddled for it to be an equal or greater record than the first two albums and I can only hope, that next time around, it's a more of a case of familiarity than this unnecessarily noisy approach.
7/10
H
@Retcon_Nation
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