Father of the Bride
“It feels right that our fourth album is not 10, 11 songs,” Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig explains on his Beats 1 show *Time Crisis*, laying out the reasoning behind the 18-track breadth of his band\'s first album in six years. “It felt like it needed more room.” The double album—which Koenig considers less akin to the stylistic variety of The Beatles\' White Album and closer to the narrative and thematic cohesion of Bruce Springsteen\'s *The River*—also introduces some personnel changes. Founding member Rostam Batmanglij contributes to a couple of tracks but is no longer in the band, while Haim\'s Danielle Haim and The Internet\'s Steve Lacy are among the guests who play on multiple songs here. The result is decidedly looser and more sprawling than previous Vampire Weekend records, which Koenig feels is an apt way to return after a long hiatus. “After six years gone, it\'s a bigger statement.” Here Koenig unpacks some of *Father of the Bride*\'s key tracks. **\"Hold You Now\" (feat. Danielle Haim)** “From pretty early on, I had a feeling that\'d be a good track one. I like that it opens with just acoustic guitar and vocals, which I thought is such a weird way to open a Vampire Weekend record. I always knew that there should be three duets spread out around the album, and I always knew I wanted them to be with the same person. Thank God it ended up being with Danielle. I wouldn\'t really call them country, but clearly they\'re indebted to classic country-duet songwriting.” **\"Rich Man\"** “I actually remember when I first started writing that; it was when we were at the Grammys for \[2013\'s\] *Modern Vampires of the City*. Sometimes you work so hard to come up with ideas, and you\'re down in the mines just trying to come up with stuff. Then other times you\'re just about to leave, you listen to something, you come up with a little idea. On this long album, with songs like this and \'Big Blue,\' they\'re like these short-story songs—they\'re moments. I just thought there\'s something funny about the narrator of the song being like, \'It\'s so hard to find one rich man in town with a satisfied mind. But I am the one.\' It\'s the trippiest song on the album.” **\"Married in a Gold Rush\" (feat. Danielle Haim)** “I played this song for a couple of people, and some were like, \'Oh, that\'s your country song?\' And I swear, we pulled our hair out trying to make sure the song didn\'t sound too country. Once you get past some of the imagery—midnight train, whatever—that\'s not really what it\'s about. The story is underneath it.” **\"Sympathy”** “That\'s the most metal Vampire Weekend\'s ever gotten with the double bass drum pedal.” **\"Sunflower\" (feat. Steve Lacy)** “I\'ve been critical of certain references people throw at this record. But if people want to say this sounds a little like Phish, I\'m with that.” **\"We Belong Together\" (feat. Danielle Haim)** “That\'s kind of two different songs that came together, as is often the case of Vampire Weekend. We had this old demo that started with programmed drums and Rostam having that 12-string. I always wanted to do a song that was insanely simple, that was just listing things that go together. So I\'d sit at the piano and go, \'We go together like pots and pans, surf and sand, bottles and cans.\' Then we mashed them up. It\'s probably the most wholesome Vampire Weekend song.”
Vampire Weekend return with a shaggy, sprawling double album all about rebirth, contentment, and the reclamation of light.
Vampire Weekend return with a shaggy, sprawling double album all about rebirth, contentment, and the reclamation of light.
Vampire Weekend’s fourth album is adventurous, joyful, weird, and familiar in all the right ways.
Vampire Weekend’s fourth album is adventurous, joyful, weird, and familiar in all the right ways.
Vampire Weekend's first album in nearly six-years is a key transformation for the indie stalwarts. Get the NME verdict
An imperfect but admirable return from one of their generation's biggest indie acts
Vampire Weekend's first album in nearly six-years is a key transformation for the indie stalwarts. Get the NME verdict
An imperfect but admirable return from one of their generation's biggest indie acts
Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.
Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.
The first album in six years from Ezra Koenig and Co. is rich ear candy loaded with helplessness and crisis.
The first album in six years from Ezra Koenig and Co. is rich ear candy loaded with helplessness and crisis.
Easy to laugh at, and all the more brave for it, ‘Father Of The Bride’ is a joyous, fearless listen.
Easy to laugh at, and all the more brave for it, ‘Father Of The Bride’ is a joyous, fearless listen.
Father of the Bride pairs airy jaunts with obsessions over romantic doom and complacency, but arcs towards redemption and renewal
Father of the Bride pairs airy jaunts with obsessions over romantic doom and complacency, but arcs towards redemption and renewal
Father of the Bride is a giddy, sprawling record that heralds the dawn of a new era for Vampire Weekend.
Father of the Bride is a giddy, sprawling record that heralds the dawn of a new era for Vampire Weekend.
Much has been made about Vampire Weekend's aesthetic, from the polo shirts and boat shoes dress code that usurped attention in their early d...
Much has been made about Vampire Weekend's aesthetic, from the polo shirts and boat shoes dress code that usurped attention in their early d...
Nearly six years to the day after dropping the stunning 'Modern Vampires of the City', Ezra Koenig and co. have finally returned with a fourth
Nearly six years to the day after dropping the stunning 'Modern Vampires of the City', Ezra Koenig and co. have finally returned with a fourth
The band’s first album in six years is both a callback to their preppy roots and a mature evolution of melting pot pop
The band’s first album in six years is both a callback to their preppy roots and a mature evolution of melting pot pop
There’s still darkness flitting around Ezra Koenig’s consciousness, but it’s more of the “middle-aged malaise” variety.
There’s still darkness flitting around Ezra Koenig’s consciousness, but it’s more of the “middle-aged malaise” variety.
Even now, 11 years after Vampire Weekend's breakthrough with its 2008 self-titled LP, it seems that one can't just have opinions about the New York City...
Even now, 11 years after Vampire Weekend's breakthrough with its 2008 self-titled LP, it seems that one can't just have opinions about the New York City...
'Father Of The Bride' by Vampire Weekend, album review by Rainer Lempert. The full-length is out today via Columbia Records.
'Father Of The Bride' by Vampire Weekend, album review by Rainer Lempert. The full-length is out today via Columbia Records.
Their first album in six years sees VW integrating styles from country to flamenco into their preppy pop, often brilliantly
Their first album in six years sees VW integrating styles from country to flamenco into their preppy pop, often brilliantly
It’s been six years since we last heard from Vampire Weekend, the preppy American guitar band that marries slinky afrobeat licks with indie rock swagger, and gorgeous pop melodies with lyrics so smart you might need a degree (or Wikipedia) to decipher them.
It’s been six years since we last heard from Vampire Weekend, the preppy American guitar band that marries slinky afrobeat licks with indie rock swagger, and gorgeous pop melodies with lyrics so smart you might need a degree (or Wikipedia) to decipher them.
Vocals are chirpy and instrumentation is whimsical – yet the melodies frequently wilt
Vocals are chirpy and instrumentation is whimsical – yet the melodies frequently wilt
Art school indie darlings lose a member but find new depths. New music review by Owen Richards
Art school indie darlings lose a member but find new depths. New music review by Owen Richards