The Vaselines – V Is For Vaselines
With their second album in five years, Kurt Cobain’s one-time “favourite songwriters in the whole world” can now claim to actually be more prolific than when they were first around in the late 80s. Frances McKee and Eugene Kelly haven’t yet felt the need to shift their sound on during this relative purple patch though – but when your songwriting chops are as effortlessly breezy as on V For Vaselines, why would you?
An album as edgy as a boiled egg, but as warmly comforting as your favourite shaggy jumper, tracks like The Lonely L.P. and Inky Lies’ playful vocal interchanges exemplify an endearingly infectious, succinct set of uplifting indie-pop anti-anthemia. Earth Is Speeding adds some lyrical urgency to proceedings, “moving too fast but it all seems so slow,” says McKee, offering a rare hint of the middle-aged duo struggling with the pace of the 21st century; for the most though The Vaselines seem pretty at home nearly 30 years after first forming. [Simon Jay Catling]