The Vaccines – ‘Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations’ review: more of the same

12 January, 2024

The Vaccines. Credit: Wrenne Evans

With the musical landscape currently awash with 2010s, Tumblr-tinged nostalgia, perhaps it’s perfect timing for The Vaccines to return. That was an era, after all, that their earlier work came to define. Their sixth album ‘Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations – the first since the departure of Freddie Cowan, their original guitarist – is an exploration of nostalgia, lost love and disillusion with the American dream. Sound familiar?

Anchored by Andrew Wells’ (Halsey, Phoebe Bridgers) slick production, it’s a pleasing, if not essential listen. Sweet opener ‘Sometimes I Swear’ – a repetitive lyric that hangs on a jangling, finger-plucking riff – eases you into the record before erupting into a euphoric chorus. It serves as an energised call-to-arms before slipping into the sparkling lead single ‘Heartbreak Kid’, a modern spin on the band’s well-known sound to create a refreshing, all-encompassing piece of pop.

It’s a record that will scratch a particular itch and the band are keen to exploit it. On ‘Sunkissed’, a syrupy lament on the one that got away, vocalist Justin Young blends humour and nostalgia as he reflects back on a previous fling: “We were so in love, we booked into the Hilton / grew my beard to look like Dennis Wilson / stayed six weeks, the world would never listen honey (what a blast)”.

The band remain keen to glimpse the past through rose-tinted glasses – they’ve mastered the universal feeling of examining our past relationships and wondering ‘What if?’. The album peaks with tales of melancholy romance (‘Lunar Eclipse’ and ‘Another Nightmare’) that are reminiscent of poppier Cure tracks, and, unsurprisingly, there’s shades of debut album hits ‘If You Wanna’ and ‘Post Break-Up Sex’.

But there’s little else to chew on. Though the romantic elements of ‘Discount De Kooning (Last Man Standing)’ are nice enough, it fails to penetrate in any meaningful way. As the record meanders on, tracks such as ‘The Dreamer’ and ‘Anonymous In Los Feliz’ fail to leave a lasting impression.

That’s not to say it doesn’t work. It might not offer anything new, but it doesn’t necessarily need to. There’s a reason why they’ve remained a festival favourite for over a decade – they’re good at what they do, even if it’s nothing particularly groundbreaking. As they asked in 2011: What else did you expect from The Vaccines, anyway?