Modern Vampires of the City

Pitchfork 9.3/10 After years of engaging with anything and everything in reach, Vampire Weekend are now a primary source in their own right.

A.V. Club A Unlike its two predecessors, which burned hot but only in spots, Modern Vampires feels like a rare thought-through album in the iTunes age.

The Needle Drop 7/10 Vampire Weekend's latest album is a worth sequel to 2010's Contra, presenting songs that truly stand on the merits of their memorable writing and lush instrumentation.

The Line of Best Fit 7/10 Koenig is engaged with the world in a serious way that doesn’t preclude fun or playfulness. And even as the band’s sound has evolved, the music remains immaculately crafted and distinctively its own.

NME 3.5/5 This is a gorgeous album, but sacrifices had to be made. They’ve undeniably lost something that made them special in the first place.

Evening Standard 4/5 With this third album, their afropop mimickry has vanished and what’s left is a gift for sparkling melody that deserves to make this an essential summer soundtrack.

Rolling Stone 4.5/5 Vampire Weekend have gotten better at just about everything they do.

DIY 4.5/5 What makes this album is that they haven’t forgotten to match this intellect and emotion with giddy, unabashed fun and mile-wide smiling.

The Independent 3/5 Experimentation is generally to be applauded, but too often here it works to the detriment of the songs.

All Music 5/5 Ultimately, Modern Vampires of the City is more thoughtful than it is dark, balancing its more serious moments with a lighter touch and more confidence than they've shown before.

Under The Radar 6.5/10 Modern Vampires of the City contains something no other Vampire Weekend album has—boring songs. Trilogies don't often end well, and while there's more good than bad, it's still disappointing when listeners know what could have been.

Clash 9/10 ‘Modern Vampires Of The City’ conveys one hell of a sense of permanence from a band that once seemed ephemeral and frivolous.

The Observer 4/5 Their erudition, musical and lyrical, remains a pleasure, but what convinces on Modern Vampires are their beating hearts.

Slant 4.5/5 The songs may be dense and literary, but they're also immediately potent on a purely visceral level, striking a perfect balance that makes for what's perhaps the best album in a year already thick with great material.

Pop Matters 8/10 Unlike Vampire Weekend and Contra, there is a less of an emphasis on inventive takes of differing genres. The group here instead aims at a core style—best described as “old with the new”—that spins off in divergent directions.

The Guardian 4/5 Vampire Weekend suddenly sound like a band in it for the long haul.

Spectrum Culture 90% While these heavy topics might make the new VW record sound like a dry philosophical treatise, rest assured, it is not. The band tackles these deep themes with their characteristic light touch.

Beats Per Minute 85% Modern Vampires of the City finds the band in both familiar and unfamiliar territory, and it’s pure pleasure hearing them navigate these waters.

The Irish Times 4/5 On their third album, Vampire Weekend (one of the most interesting bands around) serve it sunny side up, even if they remain as idiosyncratic as ever.

Uncut 9/10 If in the past you’ve admired Vampire Weekend from a distance, this is the album that should have you falling in love with them.