Vacations' 'Pursuit of Anything' Is Ten Years of Craft Finally Fitting in One Place
The Sonic Breakdown
Ten years, three continents and four albums in, Vacations have stopped chasing the thing that made “Young” a 420-million-stream accident and started building records instead. Pursuit of Anything arrives via No Fun Records under licence to Nettwerk, and at 31:17 across ten songs it is the least wasteful album they’ve made.
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Campbell Burns produced it himself, with John Velasquez co-producing, and the rhythm section gets treated as a melodic instrument rather than ballast. Jake Johnson’s bass and Joseph Van Lier’s drums sit high and dry — “Last Call” is over in 95 seconds and still finds room for a bass figure that functions as a hook.
The Spatial Dynamics: Beatriz Artola mixed it, and her ear for putting unusual timbres where you don’t expect them is all over the record. French horn, flugelhorn, trombone and Mellotron turn up as texture rather than feature — the Beach Boys and Beatles debt is paid in arrangement choices, not pastiche. Joe LaPorta’s master leaves the dynamics intact.
Standout Performance
Artola, honestly. Known for her work with Geese and Caamp, she’s the reason a record with this much brass on it still sounds like four people in a band rather than a session.
Why It’s Certified
Burns described the title to Northern Transmissions as being “about happiness as a feedback loop. How you keep chasing the next thing” — which is a neat summary of a record about turning thirty without the attendant panic. The Spill Magazine’s Ljubinko Zivkovic scored it 9.0 and called it “the Vacations’ most accomplished album so far.” Ones to Watch’s Matt Keenan got the band’s whole posture into one line: “This is a band that sounds settled, not slowed down.” Paste’s Miranda Wollen is right that nobody is reinventing the wheel here. She’s also right that it’s “lovingly crafted and continuously catchy.” Both things are allowed.