Hey, it’s Friday again! That means that it’s time for the Weekend, but more on that later.
You know what it also means? New albums are released today (for the most part). And do you know why that is the case? The US Billboard charts are based on tracking the album sales from Friday to Thursday, and so, if you are hoping to get the most out of that cycle, and thus rank as high as possible, you release your new music on Friday.
Now that that’s established, let’s take a look at today’s releases … aaaaaaandd voilà: “Only God Was Above Us” is fresh out of the oven, by Vampire Weekend. See, I told you it’s time for the Weekend and that we’d get to it later! 💩
Since the mid to late 2000s, the band has been releasing music and shaping the indie-rock genre. They made a name by smartly working in all kinds of ‘world music’ sounds, after the band’s founding members bonded, among other things, over a love of African music. These influences have stayed a staple throughout their catalog, and can definitely be heard on their latest.
While their eponymous debut album established their sound, the follow-up “Contra” (2011) leaned further into it, while blending in elements of electro-pop (likely influenced by one of the members’ side-project, Discovery (listen to “Osaka Loop Line”’s instrumental and tell me that doesn’t sound like something that might have underscored a hip car commercial in the mid-2000s)). On “Modern Vampires of the City” (2013), VW’s sound took a turn for the slightly darker with instrumentation moderately toned down and the sound a bit less bright. 2019’s “Father of the Bride” took that contrasting to the next level, the album verges into art-pop, contrasting upbeat sounds with moodier lyrics. Today’s release, “Only God Was Above Us”, is said to be titled in relation to an airplane incident where the roof was torn off mid-flight, and sounds like a progression of the previous album’s sound.
Lots of good stuff to dig into, if you enjoy their sound! To get a feel for what made them, I am pointing you towards “Vampire Weekend” (2008), their first album – I tend to be a sucker for the raw power of debut albums. Also, songs like “A-Punk” feel like they fit nicely into the sense of Spring that seems to be bubbling up, slowly but surely.
Have a lovely weekend!
Coryphe 