Did The Vaccines really come crashing onto the scene just last year? They’re a band that I listen to and half assume that they must have been around forever. Their crash-happy pop-punk is kind of classic, and well, it’s exactly the type of music that I’d have hopped around my room in some kind of crazy energy-expounding pseudo dance to in high school (not that I’d ever do something like that now…).
But, in fact, What Do You Expect from The Vaccines? did just come out in 2011, meaning it’s high time for a follow-up. The Vaccines Come of Age was just announced, due to be released September 4, and have put out the album’s first single (and first track), a surprisingly (considering the name) buoyant number called “No Hope.”
The Vaccines may sound like my high school soundtrack, but this song addresses the every-worrisome quarter-life crisis. “And I could make an observation if you want the voice of a generation, but I’m too self-absorbed to give it clout,” Justin Young declares, his tongue-and-cheek insolence a fitting accompaniment to the pogo-ready backbeat.
So maybe this band’s not quite ready to grow up. Suits me fine, they have the best parts of a raucous adolescent attitude with the just-polished-enough sound to make them grown up rock stars.