Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations is the sixth studio album by English indie rock band the Vaccines. It was released on 12 January 2024 through Thirty Tigers and Super Easy. It marks the first studio album following the departure of guitarist Freddie Cowan.
Background
The album title Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations was inspired by the lyrics to "American Pie" (1971) by Don McLean. According to frontman Justin Young, he was living in Los Angeles when writing the record and could relate to several sentiments expressed by McLean on the song. His "understanding of what the real West Coast of America was" after largely growing up on American pop culture has died. After "various" of his relationships came to an end, Young determined that the title should be about "the loss of dreams".[1]
Ahead of the creative process, Young explained that the band knew they were "ready to make another record" but were unsure of how it should "sound and feel". The first day in the studio also saw the creation of the fourth single "Love to Walk Away" which would set the tone for subsequent sessions. He described the song as the sonic and thematic "direction" for the album.[2] The Vaccines teamed up with producer Andrew Wells and recorded the album in his home studio in the Hollywood Hills, a place Young thought was a "very inspiring, exciting place to be every day".[3] The project came out "more cohesive than most [of our] records in terms of songs, but sound as well", feeling like they achieved what they "set out to achieve".[4]
Promotion
Almost immediately after the album's release, the band played 25 live dates across the UK and Europe, starting on 17 January 2024 in Amsterdam.[5]
They also embarked on a 16-date North American tour with The Kooks, starting on 29 February 2024 in Atlanta.[6]
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 70 based on seven reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception.[7] Tara Hepburn of The Skinny thought there was "an attractive simplicity to this record", calling it their "most straightforward" album to date. Hepburn opined that the project was "an album full of singles", highlighting the "catchy feelings-forward songs with football chant-worthy choruses".[11] In another positive review, the staff at Uncut found that Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations sees the Vaccines "at their terse, nervy best".[13]
Writing for The Telegraph, Neil McCormick was more critical of the album, arguing that "everything" about them "is second-hand yet somehow muddled".[12] Tilly Foulkes of NME thought that outside of a few tracks, there is "little else to chew on" as nothing offers "anything new". However, Foulkes also called the band "good at what they do".[10]
