The Vaselines – Sex With An X

Twenty one years on from their last (and also first and only) record, the fruits of the reunion between Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee has been brewing away for some time. Had The Vaselines been more prolific in their first short life then perhaps we’d be less inclined to grant them such legendary status. Of course, the tribute paid to them by Nirvana helped a great deal, demonstrating the reach of their influence and the robustness of their songs.

Thankfully their legacy clearly hasn’t been given a full stop. Sex With An X sees maturity draw out Kelly’s Caledonian lilt and soften the edges of McKee’s untamed nasality. It’s not the only change – the mid-fi production (courtesy of original knob twiddler Jamie Watson) varnishes over the edges a touch, augmenting the songs with a more commercial but ultimately less interesting depth.

It’s a minor criticism though – Sex with an X mostly succeeds, boasting a nourishing and quality selection of tracks from a band with no reason to prove anything to anyone. “I Hate the 80′s” is an obvious highlight in both sound and the sentiment of the lyric while title track “Sex With An X” is a return to the innuendo (Feels so good/It must be bad for me/Let’s do it again) that the band pioneered on classics like “Rory Ride Me Raw”.

There are nods to something new too – the melancholic wash of “The Devil’s Inside Me” hints a potentially interesting direction any follow-up record might take. That they didn’t embrace such a path wholesale on Sex With An X is perfectly fine – it’s a reassertion of who the band are and what they’re good at doing rather than a revolutionary musical statement. Nevertheless, the bar’s been raised and if they’re smart, they’ll see where it goes.