Vampire Weekend is a band that is always changing. From their debut record in 2008, to “Contra” in 2010 and the wonderful “Modern Vampires of the City” in 2013, this band has always been keeping listeners on their toes.
Killer choruses mixed with lackadaisical vocal performances have always resulted in a missed potential with each release — something was just not right on each album. Not bad but not amazing either.
Something always had to have gone wrong.
The low-key yet bombastic follow-up to 2019’s “Father of the Bride” is here. So how good is it really?
“Only God Was Above Us” starts off with “Ice Cream Piano,” which for an opening track, is disappointing. It is pretty standard fare for Vampire Weekend — blistering drums, strings, plucky guitar and a soaring chorus — however, the progression in the track is predictable and lackluster compared to the rest of the project.
The filtered and nostalgic mixing on the record is one of my favorite things about it — it is super prevalent on tracks like “Connect,” “The Surfer” and “Mary Boone.” There is a pastiche style that reminds me of 70s symphonic-prog or 90s brit-pop that Vampire Weekend is attempting to go for.
Let’s talk about “Connect” for a second. Like “Ice Cream Piano,” it has those classic Vampire Weekend elements, but it executes them perfectly.
The drums are present yet not overwhelming, the vocals are trance-like and the piano is constantly changing and morphing. The track’s lyrics tackle modern spirituality through drug use.
“The memories don’t fade/Surprisin’ fate for days/You elegantly wasted/Before you lost your spark/Took acid in the park/We’re livin’ in a basement,” lead vocalist Ezra Koenig sings in “Connect.”
“Mary Boone” is another one of my favorites, it houses incredible choral vocals as well as reverb-soaked lead vocals by Koenig. The track might be the most “low-key” on the record.
A repeating, unassuming bridge and pre-chorus lead Koenig’s vocals to explode in the following choruses and verses — along with the choral section.
“Oh, my love, was it all in vain?/We always wanted money, now the money’s not the same/In a quiet moment at the theater, I could feel your pain/Deep inside the city, your memory remains,” Koenig sings on the pre-chorus.
Some might call it pseudo-philosophy — all of this existential quasi-religious fanaticism — but I would like to call it the enlightenment you get right before your middle age. That is the idea that despite all of the world’s struggles, everything is going to be okay if we not only believe in ourselves but in each other.
This all comes to a head in the final track, “Hope.” Koenig appeals to the listeners and asks them to “let go” of everything. This fits as a final track in an album about the faults of materialism through our own god complexes.
The repetition of this “letting go” theme on the final track paints an optimistic picture and potentially a brighter future for Vampire Weekend — a band that has seemed to have always been on the wrong side of the critical lens.
But with this record, I can definitely see they have gotten their strength back.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
