Album Review :: The Young Veins - Take a Vacation

Imagine for a second that you have an extremely annoying and musically clueless little cousin who's approximately 14-17 years old. Then use your powers of make believe to envision them running up to you one day and proclaiming "oh mi gawd, Michael (for the sake of this example, your name is Michael) two of the dudes from Panic! At the Disco started a new band and it sounds JUST LIKE The Beatles!! It's amazing and/or is horrible and they sold out!!" Short of beating yourself to death with a heavily instrument, you would, at very least, not bother with the record in question since it a) doesn't sound like The Beatles as your cousin is an idiot who's sole insights into the music of the 1960's came from the film Across The Universe and b) is no doubt the newest variation of deplorable emo claptrap you just haven't been made aware of yet.

Well, you'd be half right. It doesn't sound like The Beatles. What's funny is that you wouldn't even need an intimate knowledge of the '60s to be able to come up with at least three hugely mainstream examples that the debut offering from ex-Panic! offspring The Young Veins sounds more like. The Kinks, The Hollies, The Kinks, The... okay for fuck's sake, it sounds a lot like The Kinks if anything. I'd like to be able to name-check something more obscure to impress the name-check crowed, but that does seem to be the leading influence here.

Even without a detailed account of the inner workings of emo upstarts Panic! At the Disco 'round about the time of their break-up, it's not exactly difficult to surmise what happened here. Four school friends start trendy emo band, get signed, have hit record, discuss possible adventurism on sophomore record, make said record to surprisingly good results, then break up because half of the band had heard albums that weren't by Fall Out Boy and decided that those records were pretty good too. "But, Fall Out Boy, Dude!" the other half proclaimed. ...but by that point it was probably no use.

What's noteworthy about Take a Vacation! in contrast to so many other strictly-revival records of the past ten years is that it doesn't seem to have any inclination to claim the sound as it's own. Rather it's almost an exhibition of talent in The Young Veins' ability to portray the 60's so effortlessly, they don't seem to be interested in giving it an edgy, modern twist. The songs sound truly dated, which, in this case, is actually kind of charming. A nice break from modern records which often ask the listener for a rather hefty emotional investment. Nothing here is epic and nothing here is trying to be.

The clear stand-outs come in "Change," the lead single which has been floating around myspace for the better part of a year, and curiously sounds like in the right context, could play as somewhat of a dis-track to Ross and Walker's former bandmates. "Some people never change / The just stay the same way," as well as the breezy title track.

With the retro-revival trend dying off, it's funny that one of the strongest examples of how to do it right comes from such an unlikely source. Say what you will about Panic! At the Disco, The Young Veins are clearly something else entirely, and it would be foolish of anyone to write off this fun summer record without giving it a fair shake. It's a very enjoyable little vintage-sounding romp with not a single groaner among the tracks to be found.