Vampire Weekend
“Step”
Modern Vampires of the City (out now on XL)
In my career as a music writer, I’ve been wrong about plenty of things. I claimed that Fenech-Soler would be “fucking massive,” Delphic had “New Order” potential, and that Justin Vernon should rename his group “Bon Eve-mehr.” Through the years, it’s gotten much easier to admit my eff ups (especially when they are immortalized in pixel form), and leaving Vampire Weekend’s third album off my “Oh My Fucking May” list certainly qualifies as a call I’d like to take back.
Though I always felt they were talented musicians and good songwriters, Vampire Weekend never ever really felt like my band. I was originally put off by the eye-rolling “African influences” of their early work and East Coast prep school image, and I never really developed anything more than a superficial appreciation of their sound. That said, over the last few days, I’ve really fallen into Modern Vampires of the City and love the darker, more sophisticated direction they’ve taken. The record’s brilliance is most evident in this twinkling mid-tempo gemp that sees vocalist Ezra Koenig’s impossibly sweet tenor gliding over Rostam Batmanglij’s cascading, delicious harpsichord line. Lyrically, it’s also top-notch; “Wisdom’s a gift, but you’d trade it for youth.” is about as good as anything I’ve heard this year. This is an early favorite for song of the year.
