The media has declared Craig Nicholls sex symbol of the year, neurotic of the year, most likely to kill himself this year and loser of the year - in short: the most complete pop star of the year. Mute talked to the Musician Craig Nicholls of The Vines.

The Australian quartet has been described as a mixture of The Beatles and Nirvana - a recipe of which we have seen countless interpretations over the last 10 years, but which gains a new taste in form of The Vines. With melodious aggression in shifting speeds, the debut album 'Highly Evolved' has an obvious hit potential. But when the album is regarded as one of the year's musical sensations it's with good help from frontman Nicholls' special character.

"Apparently I'm a weirdo, but I'm pretty comfortable with the way I come across in the spotlight. At the same time it's not always easy to be honest when there's that much focus on my personality. I try to keep a relatively low profile because I know that everything I do and say can be blown out of proportion. And that's not what I want."

Therefore he is glad to hear that I've come to this hotel suite in Stockholm to talk about the music. Because remarkably little has been written about the Vines' music.

"We are very concerned with details. Not just when it comes to single parts of the production, but also with every note, every instrument and each overdubbing... even if my songs and my vocals are important for the whole thing, I'm just as concerned with the other ingredients working as well as possible. When I wrote the title track I knew it would be a killer song, and I actually had several verses ready. But I chose to cut it down to the bone. It turned out to be just one and a half minutes long... It could have been a radio hit, but I felt that the song worked best in a compact form, without repetitions. Because the song is the most important thing. It's the basis for every judgement we make. We aren't concerned with details in the way that we want to be brilliant at every single element. We are just concious to make every element the way that the song, as a unit, works best with."

'Highly Evolved' is just such a collection of songs. The album consists of very unlike songs which each create a unique atmosphere. But the jump from floating ballads to aggressive punk outbreaks can be too much if you're looking for a common denominator. It seems as if the band has tried to combine too much on their debut album - as if it should have been their memoirs or their Greatest Hits. Maybe the record could have been split into two EPs?

"When putting together 'Highly Evolved' we had a lot of songs to choose from. We try to be as productive as possible, and I think the album reflects just that. I can't categorize the band, and I don't know which side we'd choose to expose if we wanted a more homogenous sound", Craig says. "We have a lot to give back to music. It has meant so much to us in so many ways that we want to repay now that we have the chance to."

The song 'Factory' is a good example for the Beatles-Nirvana bipolarity of The Vines. The verse is carried by a cheerful, melodic bass line, a reggae-like composition and simple vocal harmonies. In the transition this is replaced by driving fuzz guitars which kick off a driving chorus. 'Obla Di Obla Da' meets 'Pennyroyal Tea'. The whole thing seems pretty schizophrenic...

"Yeah, The Beatles, The Kinks and Beach Boys were an important part of our musical education, I suppose, and of course Nirvana were a huge influence at the time we formed The Vines. At the same time we have been influenced by everything that has happened over the last ten years. We listen to bands like Suede, The Dandy Warhols, Supergrass, Manic Street Preachers, Oasis, Radiohead, Beck, Pavement and The White Stripes, and I think you can hear that on the record. But the next album will probably be more consistent. I'm fascinated by the technological possibilites of today's music production and don't see a reason not to make use of them. I imagine a kind of 'Radiohead meets Depeche Mode'-record."

So we'll get to experience the Vines' version of 'Achtung Baby'?

"No matter what happens, we will develop into one or another direction, but I have the impression that we'll approach a more electronic sound. I don't know where we'll find ourselves three to four records from now (if we even get there) but we won't sound the way we do nowadays."

For today The Vines are part of the so-called comeback of rock, and that can't last forever. They are often put in the same category as The Strokes, The White Stripes And The Hives - a relatively versatile four-piece that, without a collective plan, is pulling together.

"Music goes in cycles, and right now old-fashioned rock is experiencing a boom. We don't think about the fact that we are a part of this movement, but there's no doubt that we benefit from each others' success."