“Changes” by Vacations Review

“Changes” by Alternative group Vacations takes a journey of growing up. Self reflection seems to be key to demonstrating growth. Beginning with “Anything Can Happen” which self-reflect one's progress so far, and ending with “In Retrospect” which reflects on a new perspective, and captures the album title perfectly, “Changes”. The other tracks contribute to the story being told perfectly. “Honey” also reflects on one’s old self and mistakes.

With nostalgic sounds reminiscent of the 80s, the tracks on the album are cohesive to each other. “On Hold” perfectly transitions into “Moving Out”, which is a reason this album is best when listened to in full. The tracks all start with a fade and end in a fade, but still blend together. The songs have lengthy instrumentals, which shows that a key to Vacations sound is instruments. Some of the songs have lyrics short enough to be a poem, but don't let that fool you the instrumentals contribute to the story just as much as the lyrics. 

The lead singer of the band Campbell James Burns also took the lead in song writing, as most of the songs are written solely by him. It is refreshing to find songs not written by a whole team. Songs solely written by the artist tend to be more genuine, which makes perfect sense for this album being about self growth. 

To be honest, this is not the type of music I listen to. I may not Vacations target audience genre wise, however what made the album enjoyable was being apart of the target age demographic. I am in my early twenties and I found some of the songs relatable as they are about growing up. I found “On Hold”, “Moving Out”, “Honey”, and “In Retrospect” to be the most relatable.

With that being said, let's talk about my favorites od the album,“In Retrospect” and “Honey”. These two are my favorites because the lyrics spoke to me the most. Starting off with “In Retrospect”, I found this song relatable because I find myself now as a young adult, to be completely different from when I was a teenager, despite that only being a couple years ago. Moving onto “Honey”, I related to this song as it reflects on that former self. While I have grown a lot, I still have a long way to go, as the song says “I will find my way in time.”

While I have four favorite songs based off lyrics, I do have one in particular I enjoy the most because of the instrumentals, “Steady”. I find the instrumental very soothing and relaxing, which makes perfect sense in correlation to the lyrics. “Steady” is about another person, helping you with your struggles, keeping you steady. The relaxing vibe of the instrumental correlates with the lyrics which is brilliant.

Overall, “Changes” was enjoyable. With the creative storytelling including aspects of lyricism and instrumentals, I found it unique. I also think this album would sound amazing live.