Las Vegas emo-poppers Panic At The Disco had a short spell in the sun around the tail end of 2005 thanks to the short-lived emo explosion of the mid noughties. Their sophomore album however (2008's 'Pretty Odd') revealed a band at war with itself. There was a definite division between the those in the band indebted to the psychedelic 60's sounds of the Beach Boys, The Kinks and The Beatles and those who just wanted to ride the wave of teenage adoration. The former members (Ryan Ross and Jon Walker) splintered off last year to form The Young Veins with every intention of letting their 60's pop freak flag fly high, and for the most part it was a very wise move.
Take A Vacation is a concise, engaging sweet little ditty of a record with a sparse, vibrant production courtesy of Phantom Planet's Alex Greenwald (you know them who did that 'Californiaaaaaaa' song) which frames a record that could quite easily have been recorded in the era it strives so hard to capture. The songwriting is top-notch in places ('Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won't' especially would have fit quite happily on a Zombies best of collection) and very reminiscent of the early Beatles singles with more of Ray Davies's melodic invention and dark lyrical bent (witness 'The Other Girls' dark protestation "you'll be sent straight to jail where you'll die and go to hell") and a fair smattering of The Beach Boys relaxed 'surf-pop' vibe. It's far from an eclectic record but it is a consistent one and there are enough dynamics in the songs brief structures to keep things bouncing merrily along without ever growing stale.
It was a bold move for Ross and Walker to depart a band so successful but here's hoping it pays off as The Young Veins are the kind of subtle proposition that could so easily be lost in the bluster of the modern music industry machine.
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