The Vaccines - English Graffiti

There’s a part of me that feels it’s a shame The Vaccines’ second album took ownership of the title Come of Age. Arriving over two and a half years after that release – pretty much a lifetime in Vaccine time – English Graffiti is upon us and feels a substantially more matured piece of work than the 2012 album ever did. Not that you’d notice to begin with. Leading track Handsome is all ‘Ah, this is The Vaccines’, back again with the speeding garage rock that propelled them into the public eye. But then Dream Lover lands and it’s ‘Oh, is... is this The Vaccines?’. From that point an album emerges which subverts expectations and turns into something worth caring about. Between the infectious simplicity of Denial and the slow dance that is Maybe I Could Hold You it’s a piece swimming in deliberate style. The band have already stated they’re aiming for something that will age horribly and you can be sure it will. Already I see the raised, deriding eyebrows of the children forced to listen to this in fifteen years time as Mum or Dad have a throwback Saturday afternoon. And it should be loved for this.