London-based indie rockers The Vaccines have announced the release of their sixth studio album ‘Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations‘, and have also shared the lead single “Heartbreak Kid“.
Due to be released on January 12 via Thirty Tigers, the follow-up to 2021’s album Back In Love City, was produced by Andrew Wells (Halsey, Phoebe Bridgers). Pre-order your copy here.
According the the press release, the record is the epitome of what they do best: 60’s-inspired classicist guitar pop filtered through new wave, with equal parts euphoria and melancholy.
Commenting on the new single, lead singer Justin Young says:
“There are two types of people in the world – people that have had their heart broken and people that haven’t had their heart broken yet. ‘Heartbreak Kid’ is a call to arms, a reminder that in a world where too many of us feel too detached too often, facing your feelings head on can make you feel more alive, even if it feels like the world is ending. It’s a song to keep you company on the busy freeway that connects loss to discovery.”
Featuring 10 new songs packed with hooks and melodies and pop smarts, the album drips with fun while also exploring the ways real life lets us down. “It’s about loss,” Young says. “And coming to terms with that loss – not necessarily grieving for it, but trying to get a new understanding of it.”
The record’s title comes from a misremembered lyric in Don McLean’s “American Pie,” a song that for Young fittingly evokes the death of innocence and the American Dream. After he moved to Los Angeles Young had to confront the disillusionment that comes when expectations, dreams and reality don’t quite meet. Though Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations is an album about reconciling with that loss, it’s also filled with gratitude for the people and places we once loved.
Stream “Heartbreak Kid” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and artwork.
The Vaccines ‘Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations’ Tracklist:
- Sometimes, I Swear
- Heartbreak Kid
- Lunar Eclipse
- Discount De Kooning (Last One Standing)
- Primitive Man
- Sunkissed
- Another Nightmare
- Love To Walk Away
- The Dreamer
- Anonymous in Los Feliz
Photo Credit: Wrenne Evans
