The 6th, and last single (we’re promised) from their glowingly superfluous appraised debut LP; ‘Wetsuit’ is an empirical glideing paean to growing up and the loss of innocence – though hang on! Aren’t they mere whipper snappers themselves?!
Halcyon empathetic descriptions, and romantic gestures flow listlessly: “Put a wetsuit on/come on/come on/grow your hair out long/Put a t-shirt on/do me wrong”. With the kind melodic cadenance’s favoured by The Walkmen; the rolling toms and bass kick-drum of The Arcade Fire; vocals borrowed from The Editors; and with a subtle hint of late 50s Buddy Holly lullaby nostalgia on the choruses; The Vaccines sound like a thinking man’s Drums; or better still, a hazy American surf tremelo-twanged White Lies.
Never an admirer of the West London clique – over-egged and garrulously hyped to the point of sophism in my mind. Oh and let’s not forget their latest wheeze of asking for fans to upload footage of themselves at their festival appearences and gigs using, the nicely tied-in commercial opportunity, iPhone app Instagram for the accompanying music video – but I’d admit that I’ve “succombed” to the evocative effects of this their latest breezy turn: a finale, last breathe from ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’ before work begins on their follow-up album.
Due: 04/12/2011
[Rating:3.5]
