What did we expect from The Vaccines? Well having gained so much attention before they’d even graced a stage anywhere is impressive. All this hype only puts expectations on a level that is out of reach and simply unattainable. The Vaccines have quite a debut in ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines’. They take simple accessible ideas and magically turn them into pop songs combining some of the influences they love and it’s not hard to guess who.
From the pounding opener of Wrecking Bar, it’s eerie feedback and punishing crunching sound the faint screams of ‘one, two, three, four’ burst this pop gem to life and at only 1 minute 22 seconds it leaves you playing it over and over. A feel good pop song comes along everyone in a while, the last being the Drums ‘lets go surfing’. They sound like the surf pop of the 50s thrown in with the two minute break neck songs of 70s punk beat up with Beach Boys and The Ramones.
‘If you Wanna’ another pounding drum and guitar intro pathes the way to a simple yet effective hook. ‘A Lack of understanding’ brings a slower pace and a very interesting intrepolesque feel in singer Justin Young’s voice. ‘Blow it Up’ is a darker and distorted approach with an uncanny resemblance to The Beatles ‘I Should Have Known Better’. As the tracks progress the excitement fades and a rather deflated feeling lingers, is that it?
Comparisons have been made to The Strokes which can be heard at various points. The further we get into this album the older we feel, we are the same age as these guys but it seems their audience is younger. Never believe the hype! Would we have thought differently if it wasn‘t thrown in our faces that this was the start of a new era? But then what did we expect, the album title even hints at toning down the hype. There is magic in there, catchy moments of pop brilliance but we still get the impression that these kids sort of had it handed to them on a plate which is why we just don’t believe in them, maybe it‘s a class thing! But that doesn’t mean we cant dance to it.