Younger Brother – Vaccine

English / Polish version

Younger Brother - Vaccine
    TWISTED RECORDS
    Younger Brother
    Vaccine
    2011

      1. Crystalline
      2. Shine
      3. Pound A Rhythm
      4. Safety In Numbers
      5. Night Lead Me Astray
      6. Train
      7. Spinning Into Place
      8. System 700
      9. Tetris

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Well, finally after a long waiting we get it. Probably it is even hard to imagine greater joy than that one which fills every devotee of psysounds when the British legendary Twisted Records releases a new album. It does not really matter whether it is Hallucinogen, Shpongle or Younger Brother – absolutely none. It is certain that the album will cause a great interest in the entire psyworld and it will be heard by every self-respecting psyfreak. Of course, then there is time for the feedback, reviews, criticism and praise, and for sure some online discussion forums will record increased movement in some topics devoted to the new album. Why? Well, first of all, because the record was released under the wings of Twisted and it is probably a sufficient reason, we do not need to write anything more, right?

Younger Brother, that is a British duo powered by Benji Vaughan (Prometheus) and Simon Posford (Hallucinogen), told its fans to wait long, and for some certainly too long four years for an appearance of the new disc. When THE LAST DAYS OF GRAVITY has been released in 2007, nobody could have guessed that their next album would be so different, and would cause (and trust my word, that this will happen) so much controversy. Most of all, the team of this project has been energized by the next ‘younger brother’, who turns out to be (unfortunately, in the literal sense) Ruu Campbell, who is now a chief vocalist in the team. Ruu has been also a frontman of the entire project, obviously at the expense of Benji and Simon – who needs this procedure? What is it for? I will answer honestly: I have no idea!

I listened to this album three times before I have decided to write this review. I tried not to imply the opinions that appear in the Internet with the speed of a rushing locomotive. I tried not to take into account their live performance, which promoted the album VACCINE. It is known that the music perceived live is significantly different from that one to which we listen at home. Another thing is, that not everything is as good at home or at a concert (and vice versa). Thus, by eliminating all external stimuli, which could in any way affect my decision, I have decided to listen to the latest album of Younger Brother – VACCINE. I admit that I have listened to track by track with some disbelief, being unable to wait for the next one and hoping that this ‘new arrival’ finally stops singing – unfortunately that moment did not come. I will say honestly that I decided to listen to it again only because YB stands behind this album – yes, an icon of the psychedelic music, determinant of some new trends, masters of building the atmosphere and manipulation with some emotions that accompany me to this day, when I listen to the rarity in a form of A FLOCK OF BLEEPS. Unfortunately, when I listen to the album again and again, it gives me just another disappointment. In my opinion, if the album was not labeled by Twisted Records, I would certainly end up on one listening (what is more, if I was not in the habit of listening to the records from the first to the last second, I would turn it off after the third track for sure). There is not only the lack of the spirit of good old YB in here, but above all this album is very imitative – while listening to it, I feel like it was recorded to listen to it in British radio stations, standing in a traffic jam on the streets of London. It is the music for the masses with mediocre and weak vocal, which actually interferes in the process of reception, because sometimes when I listen to it more carefully, I can feel in the depth some characteristic sounds, to which we got used to by Younger Brothers – Simon and Benji. I wonder, what kind of audience this time they decided to strike, releasing an album in the style of British pop? Did they think about some British teenagers with problems that accompany a period of adolescence and rebellion? Or maybe they dreamed up a career on MTV, or in other, more or less commercial television and radio stations? Trying to answer these questions once again, I spread my hands helplessly, because I have no idea. Unfortunately, the album disappoints me. Even though Twisted has always been and will probably be my favourite record label, unfortunately this time YB did not fulfill the task. I think that the fans’ expectations to the album called VACCINE were definitely bigger, and if not bigger, they certainly were aimed at a slightly different direction. Of course, the innovation is very desirable (although, as I have mentioned earlier, this album is rather imitative than innovative to me), however in this case it would be better to go in a slightly different direction.

In conclusion, I consider some positive attributes of the album, which after long years of waiting finally fell into my hands. First of all, I think that YB had made a mistake by involving Mr. Ruu, without him this album would be quite different, and there is no doubt that it would be better. The experiments in this case did not work out, and saying that ‘you do not change the winning team’ seems to have a totally new meaning here.
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5 / 10
Marion