The Vines show an augur without promising anything

I might be slow on the upload, but doesn’t every rock band sound like a B-feature nowadays, be it The Strokes, Oasis, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Calling in particular. There are few blockbustering ones, such as Korn, Marilyn Manson and even Limp Bizkit but there was only one truly great contender for longevity and legend-land in about 15 years – Nirvana. (And only because Jane’s Addiction were inactive at the time, methinks.)

Which brings us nicely to The Vines and their debut album ‘Highly Evolved’. This Australian band has been compared a lot with Nirvana and its singer, Craig Nicholls, with Kurt Cobain. By all reports Nicholls is emotionally damaged and knows to throw a wobblers. But then, his demeanour is that of a rock-star on TV; might have MTV help make them all like this? (Pink Floyd, Nirvana and The Vines all share frontmen with troubled souls and we hope Nicholls deals better with impending famedom.)


Other notable influences are The Beatles and the 1960s Californian psychedelics (or Pink Floyd), a kinky mix, but the album’s title is apt because this is an evolution of music; ‘Highly Evolved’ is an intriguing record that rocks, psyches, grunges, rattles, rolls, soothes… The Vines cover a lot of ground actually, which is surprising after witnessing The Vines live when they present an all-riffing, energetic, intense show.

There is precious little to suggest that they possess anything approximating a sensitive side, in particular after the opening title track; then, ‘Get Free’ bursts out of speakers with its arthouse punk, ‘In The Jungle’ burns with primal passion, ‘1969’ is such a noise-fest… And yet, ‘Autumn Shade’ is moving and melancholic as much as is ‘Homesick’ although latter sounds West-Coasty and appears to be tailored for the mainstream American market; ‘Country Yard’ is gently countrified. There is also an offbeat element that demonstrates itself with ska-flavoured ‘Factory’ or electro-pulsating ‘Sunshinin’’.

‘Mary Jane’ is the band’s obvious opus and there is no mistaking that they could handle complexity as well as anything simpler. Definitely an impressive, although shy on originality, debut from a band with a distinct future ahead of them. As long as those ‘the next Strokes’ tags stop. But, being Down-unders, they should be more down to earth and ought to handle all media bulls**t with a tinnie and a guffaw.

In our world where Coldplay are considered to be rockers, this is a bombastic statement of a debut.

8/10