Kevin Bronson on September 4th, 2014

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The Vaselines are one of those comeback/reunion stories that almost make you believe in a musical deity that metes out justice. The Scottish band, formed in the late ’80s by Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, were famously embraced (and covered) by Nirvana – although not many others – and it’s impossible to avoid thinking about them every time I see an old video clip of Kurt Cobain performing in a Captain America T-shirt. (Captain America was Kelly’s early ’90s band before he had to forfeit the name due to a copyright claim.) Anyway, the Vaselines, one of the early Sub Pop bands, went 18 years between full-lengths before re-emerging in 2010 with “Sex With an X,” which displayed their typically noisy, lo-fi charm and wry sense of humor. The Vaselines are returning Oct. 7 with another new album “V Is for Vaselines,” due on their own imprint Rosary Records*, and the new song “High Tide Low Tide” is a guitar rave-up more reminiscent of Kelly’s music in the early ’90s as Eugenius (recommended: 1992’s “Oomalama” and ’94’s “Mary Queen of Scots”).  As the Jim Lang-directed video suggests, Kelly and McKee are still having fun, and we should be too. The album features contributions from Michael McGaughrin (of the 1990s), Frank MacDonald (Teenage Fanclub), Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian), Graeme Smillie (Olympic Swimmers), Paul Foley (Mandrake Shepherd) and Scott Patterson (Sons & Daughters), which almost makes it a Scottish All-Stars affair.

* corrected post

||| Stream: “One Lost Year”