Craig Nicholls should be washed up, sitting in some Sydney bar spinning Kenny Powers–style yarns about autumn 2002, when the Vines’ “Get Free” was on the radio and the world was on his pecker. But Nicholls remains pretty damn good at mixing the surging bash of Nirvana and the setting-sun beauty of Oasis. When the Vines were momentarily big, he was the kind of guy who crashed into the drums on late-night shows. Now he writes about being young and dumb and vaguely famous, like a chastened, wizened geezebag. Nostalgia infuses the Kinks-lovely “Orange Amber,” and on the equally pretty “Kara Jayne” he sings, “I wanna ride into the sun.” Being the nine-millionth guy to compare his career to a merry-go-round is kinda sad, but Nicholls floats his bullshit on second-hand tunes and last-ditch spunk so convincing, it’d be nice if success gave him another spin.