CD of The Week

With an almost instant hype surrounding their first demo and a sold-out first show, The Vaccines played a full U.S. tour to support the release of their debut album, What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?, before it was released in late May. So far, the positive response and fan base for these guys has only continued to grow stronger. This vaccination for the plague of bad songs comes in the form of Justin Young (vocals/song writing), �rni Hjörvar (guitar), Freddie Cowan (bass), and Pete Robertson (drums).

Justin writes these badass hooks and lyrics that seem as if to read straight from the scribbles in a punk rock teen’s school book — “Post Break-Up Sex,” “Blow it Up,” “Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra).” And the issues he’s writing about, though weighted with the woes of adolescence and conformity, take flight with an underlying sense of humor that becomes more and more apparent after each listen.

Most of the songs are under three minutes, barely enough time to pump from one syringe of sound before you’re on to the next one. The album is pretty uniform throughout and it’s immediately apparent from album opener “Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)” what the band is going for in terms of their sound. The songs can be employed in many ways, from locker room sports anthems (“Blow it Up”) to soundtracks for bar brawl brouhahas (“Wreckin’ Bar…”) and prom dance after parties (“If You Wanna”). You can almost hear an aching in Justin’s voice on tracks like “All in White,” which spills over Freddie’s deep bass before the song builds to an emotionally wrought chorus. “Nørgaard” offers up a lighter fare of sweet sounding rock and hilarious lyrical antics.

The band made it clear in their interview with Matt McGrath (Y-Not’s Britspotting host), that they intend to stick to their own agenda no matter what we expect from them. And hopefully they do, because so far it is a fantastic start. The Vaccines return to Philly for the Popped! Festivalon September 24th.