Vampire Weekend brilliantly stretches its own definition on Father Of The Bride
Music Reviews Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend fans had plenty of reason for apprehension by the time Father Of The Bride was announced: Frontman and CEO Ezra Koenig had referred to the New York band’s nearly flawless first three albums as a trilogy, now ended, which seemed to imply some kind of radical shift. Koenig’s main creative partner in the band, multi-instrumentalist and producer Rostam Batmanglij, departed in 2016. The working title was the seemingly jokey Mitsubishi Macchiato. There would be singers other than Koenig featured prominently, and there would be 18(!) songs. Also, Koenig claimed to have had a songwriting revelation after a Kacey Musgraves concert, leading him to more direct lyrics. The album was supposed to come out a year ago, which would have been a full five years after the excellent Modern Vampires Of The City. In the meantime, Koenig spent some creative energy making anime for Netflix. None of those developments foretold particularly good things for Father Of The Bride.
But worry was unwarranted: Vampire Weekend’s fourth album is adventurous, joyful, weird, and familiar in all the right ways. It knows when to leap and when to look to the band’s foundation; it stretches in several directions and then snaps back into focus. It’s unmistakably a Vampire Weekend record, yet unmistakably not quite like the others. Yeah, it’s a little too long and occasionally strays off course, but its meandering suits its ambition. Father Of The Bride is unlikely to find the universal praise that the immaculately constructed Modern Vampires did, but it will reward close listens. It’s not perfect, but it’s perfect for this moment in the band’s evolution.
There are plenty of songs to satisfy traditionalists, or at least those who were all-in on Modern Vampires: “Bambina” is sweetly familiar and straightforward, chugging along before dropping everything but Koenig’s voice in the chorus. “Spring Snow” adds a Latin rhythm and some Vocoder “woo-woo”s, but otherwise feels like classic Vampire Weekend. “Harmony Hall”—which made its way to the world pre-album-release, along with five other songs—is absolutely gorgeous, a melancholy mid-tempo track with an irresistible chorus that Koenig borrowed from his own song, Modern Vampires’ “Finger Back.” (Maybe he felt that the key line—“I don’t wanna live like this / But I don’t wanna die”—deserved more attention than it got on his first try.) But those are the exception in an album filled with gentle surprises.
It’s hard to say whether the addition of other singing voices—mostly HAIM’s Danielle Haim—or the other flights of fancy are more jarringly pleasant. On the one hand, a few duets use tricks straight out of the classic country playbook, particularly “Married In A Gold Rush,” which could’ve worked just as well for June and Johnny as it does for Ez and Danie. (And could for Kacey and whomever, honestly. If Vampire Weekend can’t make it a hit, somebody else surely could.) Haim also shows up to win the day on the massively traditional—right down to its title—“We Belong Together.” Koenig wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to write songs that could be immediately understood, a pleasant surprise coming from a guy who’s inserted world politics and history into more than his share of lyrics.
But when Father Of The Bride turns its head to the less-traveled side of the road, it’s even stronger: Both “Rich Man” and “How Long?” sound like alternate-universe Disney songs, with odd little piano tinklings and alarmingly professional-sounding string sessions. (The production recalls the best moments of Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine in many ways.) Then there’s “Sunflower,” which brings to mind ’70s prog giants like Yes, with its precision swing and treated scat-singing. It may be the first Vampire Weekend song with a nonsense chorus—the “boo-ba-doo-ba-doo” sort of stands in for a bass line. It’s done with a nod but not necessarily a wink; all of the left turns on Father feel born from restlessness and curiosity rather than any kind of calculation.
Father Of The Bride isn’t the shocking rebirth that might have been expected, given all of the information that trickled out about it over the past six years. Instead, it’s just far enough from expectations to surprise, but close enough to remain true. It’s a little messy and a little weird (and, again, a little long), but exactly the right record for Vampire Weekend right now.
58 Comments
My biggest issue with Vampire Weekend is it’s a great band name wasted. I’m a sucker for a gimmick band and when I heard the name I hoped for either a bunch of gothy kids or a bunch of preppies pretending to be in Twilight. The actual band is neither and it disappoints me.
Well, you got the bunch of preppies part right.
It sounds like Voltaire’s side project when his own songs get too dark. Like he needs a break from it all.
He also wrote this great song from the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy:
There’s plenty of Anal Cunt on Spotify, old guy.
I mean, “The Beatles” is basically a dumb pun, but it seems to have worked out for them.
I mean, “The Beatles” is basically a dumb pun, but it seems to have worked out for them.
Really!? When is the last time those guys put on an album?
Go to bed, Dad.
I know you’d like to stay young and hip forever, but Vampire Weekend is now venturing into “Dad Rock” territory.
That would be too predictable so it’s actually a brilliant band name.
Hey, divorced dad over 40.
You are so wrong. I am happily married!
Did you really think this crack was so clever you had to make it twice?
It’s only in the past year that I realized that they aren’t an emo band, and I still have to remind myself of that whenever I see them mentioned.
SO you’re upset with Vampire Weekend because they don’t think like you?
“Upset” is a bit of a stretch. Just said it’s a wasted band name
Unbelievably happy to read this review. I’ve loved this band for years and I’m very glad to have another Vampire Weekend album to play as I drive around enjoying the summer. I hope the Amon Amarth album that comes out tomorrow as well is also strong and I’m going to have a great day of new music!
I didn’t know there was another person on Earth who is excited about both Vampire Weekend and Amon Amarth. Dozens of us!
One of the fun things about the internet is you very quickly learn that your taste in music is no way unique.
You go to shows alone, don’t you?
Haha I certainly would if necessary but I have a tight circle of metalhead pals to mosh with and my wife and other friends enjoy pretty much everything else I like so usually I can keep shows nice and social.
You just keep being the one guy near the stage carrying an infant that everyone else at the show hates for carrying an infant to the front row.
Dude, you had a baby. You don’t get to go to shows anymore.
I have no idea what you’re talking about here.
If you look at his other posts you’ll see that he thinks that calling someone a ‘dad’ is some sort of slur. He’s very clever.
I’m hyped about a third good Vampire Weekend album. “Nearly flawless first three albums” is the most baffling thing I’ve read all year.
Good call on “Then there’s “Sunflower,” which brings to mind ’70s prog giants like Yes” I really can imagine Jon Anderson singing that song, right down to the kinda-nonsensical-but-works-anyway lyrics.
I got more of a CSNY’s “Deja Vu” vibe from it, but I’ll cosign anyway.
I am so hyped for this album. Continuing the Paul Simon influence while also cribbing on the Grateful Dead sound was a goddamn masterstroke. I cannot fucking wait.
After Modern Vampires was so, so good, and Batmanglij leaving, I was ready for this to be a disappointment–so I am ECSTATIC to read this review. I’ve loved the singles, but they’ve been all over the place so I had no idea what to expect. Yay.
I don’t want to criticize Batmanlij for leaving Vampire Weekend, but his solo stuff doesn’t approach the heights of certain VP songs.
I loved Bike Dream and some of the other songs, but I just can’t get into autotune as an aesthetic choice so I have to always skip past those two songs.
I’d like it so much better without the Haim sister. I don’t know what it is about them, but I find all three to be a big ball of MEH.
I’ve tried them. Not my thing.
> exactly the right record for Vampire Weekend right now. This is EXACTLY how I felt listening to the Singles. Considering that I found MVOTC to be a watershed album and a modern classic the FOTB singles sounded like a victory lap and for some reason I was totally fine with that. Doubling down on the criticisms that they sound like Paul Simon by saying “you want to hear some Graceland songs? Buddy we GOT some Graceland songs” seemed like the perfect sound to drop. I chalked it up to me being old and not wanting change though but glad to see someone else feel these are pluses, not minuses.
Modern Vampires of the City is my favourite album of the decade and I’m very glad to have them back
Not as good unfortunately (be hard to match) but some good moments for sure.
All the Dads responding here can fuck right off. Great album from a great band. Sorry you missed the train, losers.
I love how you think fatherhood is an insult
You gave up being cool or interesting the moment you had a baby, and now the only thing you have credence to talk about is the videogames you play when your kid and wife are sleeping.
Go away child. You can post again after you’ve grown your second pube
Lmao you think liking this band is interesting?
Like us, so shall ye become
And more accurately; once you have a baby/get older/whatever epochal change you’d like to fill in here, you realize that what you thought was being cool and interesting just isn’t a priority anymore
At least they were cool and interesting at one point. You, on the other hand… your shtick is just sad and tired.
surely, a sign of maturity if I’ve ever seen one
What the hell does your post even mean?-a non Dad
It means there is a 15 year old edge lord posting here trying to sound cool. He seems mad because I said Vampire Weekend is a dumb name for a band.
The most amusing thing about his comment is that Vampire Weekend became a major indie band in 2008 – 2010 – they’ve been around a good long decade so most of us who have listened to them from the get-go are old enough to be fathers and mothers (regardless of whether we are)
1. lol wat.
2. ezra is a dad.
If there’s one thing dads can’t relate to, it’s a mid-’00s indie band fronted by a 35-year-old new father who wears a lot of cardigans and is really into Bernie Sanders.
Hopefully I enjoy this more than the six singles they released early… I found those pretty dull. On the plus side it sent me on a VW listening binge which was a good excuse to revisit their 3 great past albums.
Phew!I shared all of your apprehensions. And even after enjoying five of the first six songs to be released, the absence of Rostam still made be nervous.I’m glad to hear you liked the album. Can’t wait to get home tomorrow, sit down on the couch and give it a listen!
There’s an amazing 10-12 song album here, but those tracks are buried in some of the worst stuff VW has ever done. It’s like Ezra wanted to start a new side project that combined the worst attributes of modern radio country with the sort of lame whitewashed afro-pop sensibilities of a direct to DVD Lion King knockoff where everyone just sings about how they’re going to be friends forever, but that project fell apart and he just threw those tracks onto this album instead. It’s not just that the lady who’s singing is as bland as breaded mayonnaise; it’s the fact that the writing on those songs is noticeably more hacky and less interesting than the rest of the album, and the arrangements utterly lack the ambition of the rest of the album, or of VW’s last two albums.
On the whole I’m not disappointed with the album – as I say, there’s a good ten to a dozen songs in here. I just wish that Ezra had kept those other tracks as a side project so that they would be easier to never listen to again.
Fake edit: I just realized the lady is from Haim. That explains a lot. I have never understood why people worship that band when they’re basically Wilson Phillips with less edge.
It’s definitely a bloated record. I thought the same thing listening to it earlier— I liked a good 6-8 songs on it but I’m not eager to give it a second listen to parse through which ones they were… that bloating prevents it from maintaining the quality standard they’d set on their previous albums.
I just said the same thing about Haim. Blander than a goddamn bread sandwich.
Haim objectively sucks.
I disagree with it being too long. I felt like after waiting so long, they made an album that was worth the wait. Its absolutely beautiful from beginning to end.
I’ve listened a few times to it, and still find myself underwhelmed. “Harmony Hall” is indeed gorgeous and my favorite, “This Life”, “Big Blue” and final song are pretty good, but the rest for me is pleasant enough, but without songs or choruses really standing out (plus there’s some misfires, but hard to avoid on a double album). I guess it would be hard to match their last album, but after so long, hard not to build up hope.