The Vaccines: 'Post Break-Up Sex'

Ten years after White Blood Cells and Is This It, here comes the garage rock revival, revival. It's easy to be cynical about The Vaccines - and not just because of frontman Justin Young's past life as folkster Jay Jay Pistolet. In a bizarre BBC interview, he 'proved' the diversity of his tastes by proudly announcing the recent purchase of 21 CDs, including Abba's Greatest Hits. You'd think he'd have investigated Sweden's most famous export earlier than the day of a major interview... Anyway, despite being a fourth-hand Ramones copy, debut single 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)' was (whisper it) actually pretty good fun, while B-side 'Blow It Up' was an equally passable stab at the whole Jesus and Mary Chain thing.

So, like anyone, Young deserves our presumption that his genre-hopping is mere youthful feet-finding, rather than a clumsy corporate grasp for the pop charts. Sadly though, 'Post Break-Up Sex' is every bit as uninspiring as you'd imagine from that title. It's less pacey than 'Wreckin' Bar' but still shows the obvious Ramones stamp by cribbing the melody from their early-'80s highlight 'The KKK Took My Baby Away'. As Young warbles the insipid chorus ("Post break-up sex / That helps you forget your ex / What did you expect / From post break-up sex?"), it's hard to avoid the feeling that even a loveless rebound bunk-up has more passion than this through-the-motions indie-schmindie stomp.