Vehicles & Animals is the debut studio album by British rock band Athlete. It was released on 7 April 2003 through Parlophone. After changing their music style from Britpop, Athlete released a self-titled extended play (EP) in early 2002; its lead track "Westside" brought attention from Parlophone and the band joined the label. "You Got the Style" was released as a single in mid 2002, after which Athlete recording their debut album with producer Victor Van Vugt. Vehicles & Animals is an indie rock and post-Britpop album that emulates the style of Blur, Eels and Stereophonics.
Vehicles & Animals received generally positive reviews from music critics, though some of them saw it as uninspiring. The album charted at number 19 in the United Kingdom, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in 2005. "Beautiful" was released as the second single from Vehicles & Animals, followed by the third single "El Salvador" and a UK tour in early 2003. The fourth single "Westside" and a re-release of "You Got the Style" appeared in June and September 2003, respectively. Two more UK tours followed, one closing 2003 and the other opening 2004. Of the album's singles, "El Salvador" had the highest chart peak, reaching number 31 in the UK and number 40 in Scotland.
Background and recording
When Athlete formed in 2000, their line up consisted of vocalist and guitarist Joel Pott, bassist Carey Willetts, keyboardist Tim Wanstall and drummer Steve Roberts. When Wanstall left the band to study at university, the other members continued playing gigs in Camden, London. Their style was akin to the Britpop sound of the 1990s but when Wanstall returned to the line up, they changed style to one similar to the works of Beck, Gomez and Turin Brakes. Athlete released a self-titled extended play (EP) on 4 March 2002 through Regal Recordings; its lead track "Westside" received airplay on BBC Radio 1 and attracted the attention of Parlophone, who signed the band soon after. Pott said the band had written only four songs at the time of the signing, whereas other bands would have an album's worth ready.
On 17 June 2002, "You Got the Style" was released as a single, which was followed by a tour of the United Kingdom and a supporting slot for Suede. In late 2002, Atlete recorded their debut album, co-producing it with Victor Van Vugt. Sessions were held in the basement of a church; during recording, they took a break from recording to tour with Mansun and the Polyphonic Spree. Parlorhone told the band to record at their own pace because they did not want the band to quickly release a product solely to keep momentum going. Pete Collis served as engineer on "Westside" and "Dungeness". Athlete and Bird & Bush – consisting of Marshall Bird and Steve Bush – did the initial production on "Dungeness". Matt Frost and Adam "A Skillz" Mills did additional programming on "Out of Nowhere", and Vugt and the band mixed the final recordings.
Composition and lyrics
The sound of Vehicles & Animals has been described as indie rock and post-Britpop in the style of Blur, Eels and Stereophonics. In a review for The Guardian, journalist Alexis Petridis wrote for the majority of the release, "Athlete sound like finalists in a contest to discover Britain's Most Unfashionable Band, mixing Parklife chirpiness with the acid songwriting style of Joe Jackson ... and occasionally throwing in big beat-like rhythms". Pott's vocals resemble those by the Police frontman Sting. Discussing the album's title, Pott said; "Vehicles and animals on their own are two interesting things, and when you put them together it sounds quite weird. We like to have good pop tunes but couple that with weird sounds and mess it up". One of the album's recurring topics is the members finding happiness in their home town Deptford. Wanstall said it was "very much a bunch of stories about our little community, in our little corner of London, and just full of the joys" of being a recently-signed act.