Rock and roll antidote
WHEN The Vaccines burst onto the British music scene in 2011, they offered guitar-driven catchy power pop so hard-charging it made you wonder when singer Justin Young found time to breathe.
After drifting away from that for a couple of albums, The Vaccines seem ready to bust down the barricades in the name of rock and roll again on their fourth album, Combat Sports – at least sometimes.
Surfing In The Sky recaptures their Wreckin’ Bar roar well, especially as Young wonders with a snarl, “How many light bulbs does it take to change the mood?” Between the galloping beat from new drummer Yoann Intonti and guitarist Freddie Cowan’s raging riffs, The Vaccines create one of 2018’s rock highlights.
It’s not a pace they can maintain, though the Strokes-ish bounciness of Out On The Street comes close. And the latter-day New Order dreaminess of Maybe (Luck Of The Draw) is charming in its own, more laid-back way, as is the stomping I Can’t Quit.
The Vaccines fall short, though, when they go for synthy and clever, like the chugging Your Love Is My Favourite Band, which sounds like the rock they’d rebel against. – Glenn Gamboa/Newsday/Tribune News Service
HAYLEY Kiyoko’s debut album, Expectations, is deceptively simple, filled with upbeat dance rhythms and catchy pop hooks.
But there’s a depth of feeling to these songs that suggests something bigger. The irresistible groove of the first single, Feelings, would have worked if Kiyoko sang a takeout menu. Instead, she gives an honest look at inner conflict, singing, “I over-communicate and feel too much. I just complicate it when I say too much.”
The way she chronicles depression, an outgrowth of her bout with post-concussion syndrome, on Mercy/Gatekeeper is wrenching, despite the uplifting musical backdrop. “All I want to do is cry,” she sings wistfully, “bang my head until I start to fly.”
However, Kiyoko is mostly upbeat, a cool mix of sass and swagger in He’ll Never Love You (HNLY). Even when she is frustrated, like in the sleek, breathy Janet Jackson-ish soul ballad Sleepover, she is still looking for the bright side. The bouncy What I Need, which teams her with Kehlani, is the kind of well-crafted, mainline pop that has made Carly Rae Jepsen beloved by critics and fans alike.
In a way, it’s the combination of her Disney Channel background and her unflinching honesty about her life that has earned Kiyoko the nickname of Lesbian Jesus from her fans. Expectations doesn’t feel like a debut as much as it feels like the start of something big, comparable to Lady Gaga’s debut The Fame ,in the more carefree days before she became Mother Monster.
It’s a solid introduction from start to finish, closing with the classy, rock-tinged Molecules that mourns a loss and the dramatic pop anthem Let It Be, which seems like it wants to compete to be the soundtrack for high school graduations everywhere.
For Kiyoko, Expectations couldn’t be higher, but the music is so good she seems set to surpass even the loftiest ones. – GG