CD of The Week

Through their first two albums, listeners have come to learn what to expect from The Vaccines: fuzzy, garage, guitar pop about love in one form or another. That's exactly what they set out to change on English Graffiti. The group's third album marks a decidedly vivid shift in style and a flip in overall sentiment, expanding their timeless sound of old with textures and bigger, bolder instrumentation. While The Vaccines have never set out to impress critics, their latest effort's production, at the hands of Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, MGMT) and Cole MGN (Ariel Pink, Beck), takes genre-melding risks in a normally risk-taking-free genre that are sure to catch their attention.

English Graffiti starts on an overdriven, up-tempo bang with "Handsome," setting the energy-packed tone of the album that carries all the way to the culminating, warped, instrumental "Undercover." Fighting mostly against love as guitars, synths, and drums crash together, the collection compartmentalizes itself into a few distinct groups. Shimmers of glossy ‘80s rock empower the stadium-filling choruses and riffs of the longing "Give Me A Sign" and the anthemic and blaring "Dream Lover." Slinking into a sultrier side, the guitar and basslines burn smoothly on "Want You So Bad," "Minimal Affection," and "Denial."

While the focus of this third album had been reinvention, frontman Justin Young's familiar, vulnerably sentimental side is not glossed over, making notable appearances on the album's piano ballad "(All Afternoon) In Love" and in the melancholy echoes of "Maybe I Could Hold You." Clever and relatable phrases and a chugging tempo fill the album's most recognizably Vaccines tracks, "20/20" and "Radio Bikini," as they surge forward with splintering guitar solos and undeniably catchy hooks.

The Vaccines have defied expectations onEnglish Graffiti without losing themselves in the process. Diving headfirst into the new directions they sought sonically, the extra time in the studio proved to be a huge step in creating a more creative album with depth and purpose to each song. Now all that's left is to see how they'll weave in all the new flavors of instrumentation to their live show.

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