British band The Vaccines drop their sixth album, Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations, via Super Easy/Thirty Tigers. The 10-track album was produced by Andrew Wells (Halsey, Phoebe Bridgers). It’s the quartet’s first album since Back In Love City in 2021.

The Vaccines are Justin Young (lead vocals, guitars), Árni Árnason (bass, vocals), Timothy Lanham (guitars, keys, vocals) and Yoann Intonti (drums). Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations was recorded at producer Andrew Wells’ home studio in Los Angeles and mixed by Dave Fridmann (Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips).

This album is the epitome of what The Vaccines do best: 60’s-inspired classicist guitar pop filtered through a new wave lens, with equal parts euphoria and melancholy. Titled after a

misremembered lyric in Don McLean’s “American Pie,” Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations illustrates the disillusionment that comes when expectations, dreams and reality don’t quite meet. Though the album is ultimately about reconciling with that loss, these 10 songs packed with hooks and melodies and pop smarts are also filled with gratitude for the people and placeswe once loved.

Young notes, “It’s about loss. And coming to terms with that loss – not necessarily grieving for it, but trying to get a new understanding of it.” 

On the current single “Heartbreak Kid,” “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,” said Young. “‘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.”

The band will make their return to the U.S. this spring on a coast-to-coast tour with The Kooks.