The Vines Return With Melodia

06/25/08 5:00pm

by Ciara McCann (CHARTattack)

The Vines have survived break-ups, breakdowns, fisticuffs, label changes, exhaustive tours and frontman Craig Nicholls suffering from Asperger Syndrome over the past nine years. They'll further prove their resiliency with the July 22 Ivy League Records release of their fourth album, Melodia.

Melodia was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith), who also worked on The Vines' first two albums. You can hear lead single "He's A Rocker" on the Australian group's MySpace page. The album will be available exclusively in North America through Insound.com.

The Vines' Highly Evolved debut sold 1.5 million copies worldwide and made them one of the biggest buzz bands around earlier this decade, but their commercial fortunes declined with the subsequent Winning Days and Vision Valley records. But a performance at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas in March showed that the group still have something left in their tank.

Here are the tracks on Melodia:

"Get Out" "Manger" "A.S III" "He's A Rocker" "Orange Amber" "Jamola" "True As The Night" "Braindead" "Kara Jayne" "Merrygoround" "Hey" "A Girl I Knew" "Scream" "She Is Gone"