“That’s the most metal Vampire Weekend’s ever gotten.”
6 years have passed since we last heard from the preppy entourage hailing from New York, Vampire Weekend. Now well into their 30’s, Ezra Koenig’s act have announced their resounding return to the frail indie-rock fray with their latest 4th LP of 18 tracks, Father of the Bride. Forever entangled in a variety of genres, Koenig also reigned in the likes of Danielle Haim of HAIM and legendary multi-instrumentalist/producer Steve Lacy into the fold of their upbeat indie-rock braced with darkened lyricism. Much may have happened in the music sphere over the past 6 years, yet as if to reaffirm their pertinent influence on this genre, Vampire Weekend seamlessly fit back into the frame - as if they’d never left at all.
Picking up right where they left off with their previous 2013 LP, Modern Vampires of the City, soothing worldly chants are invited into the backdrop of jolting acoustic refrains staging the duet between Koenig and Haim. Sampled from Hans Zimmer’s film score for The Thin Red Line, the exuberant chorus of chants ultimately commence the matrimony of this tumultuous relationship acutely signified by the track’s jostling start-stop nature. Luckily, the proceeding few tracks thereafter bolster the inception of this LP swelling in their older, ballad-rock influences stripped from the 60’s and 70’s.
Amongst the acoustic grooves, ‘Harmony Hall’s infectious energy is supported by a variation of otherworldly percussive instrumentation, yet uniquely holds a nostalgic sheen reminiscent of The Beach Boys and The Beatles’ gently-delivered soft-rock of the past. Similarly, ‘This Life’ garners this by virtue of such upbeat, world-folk tropes exuding Koenig’s playful debunking of relationships, “you’ve been cheating on me...I’ve been cheating through this life.”
It may strike any given listener of this record that Vampire Weekend have fleshed-out their usual 10 to 12 track LPs of the past, to an odysseian 18-track exploration this time around. Yet amongst the average song length, the act have evidently delved into the art of shortened interludes peppered throughout - from ‘Big Blue’, to ‘Rich Man’, to ‘2021’. In their attempts to offer a variation of musical tastes and avenues, these tidbits unfortunately stifle the LP’s flow and, for the most part, unnecessarily divulge us into monotonous tangents against the grain of this act’s signature slice of the indie pie.
In spite of some rockier moments along the way, the LP’s empowered mid-section fortunately forges Vampire Weekend’s experimental indie-rock ship assertively ahead. An intricate melding of guitar licks and synth riffs ignite ‘How Long?’, with ‘Unbearably White’ continuing these facets underlying Koenig’s self-critique of the group’s ongoing privileged Ivy-League status. Once again, Koenig’s blend of glossy indie-rock and folk with scathing lyricism of “sinking to the bottom of the sea” and becoming “unbearably white” remains a true-blue testament of his musical aptitude currently. Forgetting the awkwardly pseudo-country twangs of ‘Married in a Gold Rush’ conglomerating one-too-many genres in their concoction, Koenig and Haim sporadically interject and convincingly spur each other amidst their descending matrimony.
From this point, Vampire Weekend truly show what’s exceptional about them. Encapsulating a variety of sounds and instruments, each track buried within the latter half of the LP’s mid-section remarkably offers something enticing. From ‘My Mistake’s emphatic crescendoed vocals, to ‘Sympathy’s cataclysmically ‘metal’ conclusion, to ‘Sunflower’s intertwining vocal refrains - Koenig’s & Co’s effective experimentals once again pay dividends. Whilst ‘Flower Moon’ awkwardly utilises vocoder effects amidst a myriad of vocal melodies, the sonic journey through 60’s ballad-rock, flamenco-rock, and quirky indie-folk blend homogeneously well into the mid-section of their audacious LP from an ambitious set of musicians.
Toward the latter end of the LP, however, these sumptuously enticing sounds begin to formulate a bitter aftertaste through such tracks as ‘We Belong Together’ and ‘Spring Snow’. With the former track revisiting Koenig’s attempts at alt-country, to the latter’s rehash of off-putting vocoder effects, this section perfectly exemplifies the art of crafting a succinct and cohesive set of tracks which, ironically, would have resembled closer to 10 tracks in total.
Entering the tail-end of this mammoth LP exuding the matrimony between this couple, Koenig instead portrays this as a marriage between Judaism and Christianity on the final track ‘Jerusalem, New York, Berlin’. Aside from the evident signposting of these 3 cities, Koenig cunningly interjects his quaint piano ballad with his trademark referential lyricism “don’t let them restart that genocidal feeling that beats in every heart.” Whilst the concluding tracks up to this point may extend their musical reach that bit too far, Koenig’s symbolic and thematic reach deems incessantly pertinent and undeniably unique from such ubiquitous run-of-the-mill, romantic indie-folk balladry.
It’s been 11 years since Vampire Weekend’s breakout self-titled, debut LP was released - offering genre-defining indie hits such as ‘A-Punk’ and ‘Oxford Comma’. Fast forward to this LP released recently, Ezra Koenig’s act have seamlessly fit themselves into the frame they once all those years ago - notably continued this decade by the similar likes of Father John Misty, Jenny Hval, and Weyes Blood. The emphatic return from this cornerstone of a band is by no means without its flaws, namely the lack of track editing and tribulations of alt-country tropes, yet proves the ongoing pertinence of Koenig’s entourage. After all these years, it’s admirable that Vampire Weekend can continue to embrace the ‘metal’ within themselves and find a way to effectively channel it within their preppy facade - so, let's collectively say "mazel tov" to this true matrimony.
8/10
Vampire Weekend's latest 4th LP, Father of the Bride, is out now and can be found here.
Tickets for Vampire Weekend's UK tour later this year are on sale now and can be found here.
Opmerkingen