The Vaccines talk new album: “They’re not all two minute, three-chord, fast-paced rock songs.”

The Vaccines are approaching the release of their third album, ‘English Graffiti’, and in the new issue of DIY (out 27th February), Justin Young discusses the band’s desire to break free from the standards set by their first two records.

When the band released ‘Melody Calling’ halfway through 2013, it shimmered with Californian warmth, all scuzzy guitars and blissful vibes. It was exactly what we wouldn’t have expected from The Vaccines and it opened up the doorway for their third record.

Now, as 2015 gets well underway, the band are ready to go: having decamped to upstate New York to work with Dave Fridmann last year, ‘English Graffiti’ is on the horizon. They’ve even unveiled its first cut, ‘Handsome’, but Young is adamant that their infectious new single doesn’t offer too many clues. “The song itself is, if anything, bridging the gap. It’s probably one of two or three songs that sound most like the stuff that’s preceded it,” he confirms. “They’re not all two minute, three-chord, fast-paced rock songs.”

Their forthcoming album is set to be a more personal effort. Whilst Young decided that he no longer wanted to be as literal in his lyrics, he’s opening the songs up to be more subjective by exploring themes that many of us are constantly facing.

“I was actually tackling it from a very personal place,” he assures. “I sat down and spoke to a friend about this, but about a year ago, when we were first really started writing the record, I realised that - despite feeling so connected on so many levels - so many of us felt this disconnect. So many of us are 26, 27 year olds approaching our late twenties and thirties, we’re single, and we’re a little bit lost.”