The Young Veins - Take A Vacation! Album Review

Featuring two former members of Panic At The Disco (Ryan Ross and Jon Walker), The Young Veins formed in 2009 and now release their debut album. Currently touring America with Rooney, the band also has a sampler available to download from their website.

When Ross and Walker left PATD it was cited that "creative differences" was the cause, a common reason overly used to disguise other issues. However in this case it may well have been true, going on the evidence of 'Take A Vacation!', which gives more than a sly wink to more retro sounds like that of The Beach Boys. The likes of 'Change', 'Cape Town' and 'Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won't' are melodic pieces from an older era, but lack quality hooks to build on their initial charm. Similar to The Thrills (what happened to them?), it is indie with less reliance on dynamics and more on tunes, but few here are gripping. There is improvement in 'The Better Girl' due to the stomping riff, while 'Dangerous Blues' generates an encapsulating romantic mood, but aside from this the standard is drab, such as the labouring listen that is 'Lie To The Truth' and sub-standard 'Heart Of Mine'. Credit should be given to the band for not simply living on the past glories of its members, but this in an uninspiring release with nothing to really grip a listener.

Alex Lai