The Observer, February 15, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 17
Vampire Weekend stuns with sweet debut album
Hype is certainly one of the most hazardous and precarious things that any musician would ever have to bother with. Some manage to live up to it (The Arcade Fire), some get by on it (The Arctic Monkeys), and some completely blow it (Brendon Flowers declaring that the last Killers album was "the best album in 20 years"). This is certainly why Vampire Weekend, a New York-based quartet composed of recent Columbia University graduates, should be careful now that their self-titled debut is the biggest thing in indie rock. They could completely squander it the next time out, but for now, they're safe. This album is good. It's really, really good.
This is almost ironic since the album has everything that screams, "Look at us, we're quirky!" From the lyrical content (songs about grammar and architecture) right down to the album cover (and its Wes Anderson-esque typeface), this has almost every reason to be too "indie" for its own good and fail miserably in progressing musically or possessing an honest heart.
But then you actually listen to the album and it all makes sense. These guys sing about Oxford commas in the way that most singers sing about their feelings (and it's not like we don't have enough songs about people's feelings already, anyway). It all comes off so natural and playful that any air of pretentiousness evaporates into the music. And speaking of the music, these young men can write some great hooks. The baroque stylings of "M79" and the incessant vocal yelping in "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" are simply infectious. Elsewhere, songs like "Mansard Roof" and "A-Punk" are joyous to listen to. It's no small feat for the band to be able to cram so much into these short two-minute long excursions (dynamic changes and string and flute sections), yet never manage to lose the songs' power and drive.
In addition to these victories, they've already distinguished themselves from their infinite peers in the indie scene by throwing in some African influences to the mix. Songs like "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" draw from the early-to-mid 80s era Talking Heads and Paul Simon's "Graceland," two citations rarely made today.
The emotional climax of the album comes in the form of a pulsating rock and roll ballad, "Walcott," which beckons its title character, "Don't you wanna get out of Cape Cod tonight?" This plea, in accordance with the modestly epic nature of the music, provides for what will certainly be one of the best songs of the year.
Clocking in at barely over 34 minutes (seeming even shorter since these catchy little tunes speed on by), Vampire Weekend's debut leaves us wanting more. But this is all for the good of the band; we wouldn't want them to overdo it all on the first run, not to mention that repeated plays of the album reveal so many little twists and turns that you will probably miss the first time around. And so we now wait for this modest group to trudge through their sudden rise to popularity and pump out another half-hour-long set of songs. But if this band is any bit as clever as they come off on this record, they'll manage to avoid falling ill to the hype bug and mold another masterpiece.
