The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

I tend to react in hype in one of two ways:

A) I get completely swept up in it. When Arctic Monkeys released their debut early in 2006 I made some pretty bold statements about how they were going to revolutionise the music industry. I may be somewhat embarrassed by the ferocity of my devotion, but I think that album still stands tall.

B) I get so sick of everyone going on about how great an artist is that I go out of my way not to listen to them. It took a long time for me to listen to Missy Higgins. I t actually took a long time for me to be able to hear her name without shaking my fist and saying 'Bloody Higgins!'. It was my loss though, her debut album is great.

The Vaccines are a band with a lot of hype and buzz behind them. They have that heady mix of celebrity fans, festival bookings, and placings on important industry polls. I imagine in the UK it's difficult to not be painfully aware of the band. I expect their media saturation to be less complete in Australia, but with the announcement that they'll be playing this years Splendour In The Grass festival I would expect to be hearing a lot more local buzz around the middle of the year.

So what's all the hype about? "What Did You Expect..." is a short sharp burst of very British sounding rock, with a clear influence from '50s rock and roll. Of the 11 songs on offer (12 with a hidden track) most are under three minutes, with two of the tracks clocking in at around the minute and a half mark. It's a punk rock pace, but the music is a little too clean to comfortably wear the punk mantle.

Opening song, and lead single, Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra) is 82 seconds of high energy bliss, but they still manage to squeeze in two and a half verses and a guitar solo. The blistering pace really sets the tone for the album. Even the slower tracks are pretty quick, and the whole thing is over in little more than half an hour.

Lyrically the album is a little shallow. Even the break up songs (and a lot of the album seem to concern that lyrical goldmine) are a little reserved. Thee are no hearts on sleeves, no examinations of the human spirit. There's even a very silly love song to a seventeen year old danish model.

It's a fun album. Catchy sing along songs, overflowing with youthful energy. A great album for the carefree summer days of sunshine, barbecues, and cool drinks. But with the southern hemisphere moving into the introspection of winter I honestly can't see that I'll be listening to the album too much. I'll certainly be bringing it out next summer though.