Six years. That’s how long it’s been since we’ve had a fresh album from indie sensation Vampire Weekend. That finally changed this past May. The band released “Father of the Bride,” an album with a whopping total of 18 tracks. 18 tracks! This album has some of my new favorite Vampire Weekend songs.
What I love about this album is its overall character of springtime joyfulness combined with intense and occasionally downright dark lyrics (“Pumped Up Kicks,” anyone?). It’s easy-listening, as long as you don’t listen too closely. Great background noise; great introspective, laying on the grass, thinking about life noise. It starts off with “Hold You Now,” the “title track” with a surprising twinge of country-esque chords.
The next track, “Harmony Hall,” is one of my favorites, with about four million views on its official music video. It is a beautiful, deceivingly peaceful track with lyrics about tension, polarization, anger and the metaphor that “singers harmonize ‘til they can’t hear anything.” These are lyrics to wrestle with, and the English major in me loves that.
Another favorite of mine (I may as well begin every paragraph with that phrase) is “Bambina,” a fleetingly short track that leaves you wanting more. The chorus line “Ciao, ciao, Bambina” references an Italian love song written by Domenico Modugno in 1959.
Then comes the most juxtaposed track on the album in terms of lyrics and feel: “This Life.” Though cheerful and lighthearted in sound, the lyrics are about crushed dreams, infidelity and the suffering of the human condition. The story of the lyrics is that two lovers have both cheated on each other, and now the narrator is attempting to come to terms with the situation, with a decidedly pessimistic point of view.
The lyrics, dark as they are, are poetic. For instance, one verse begins with, “Baby, I know hate is always waiting at the gate/ I just thought we locked the gate when we left in the morning,” it says, followed by, “And I was told that war is how we landed on these shores/ I just thought the drums of war beat louder.” In other words, he thought the two of them had a better foundation, and he is surprised to find that “hate” and “war” have breached their lives in this way. All of this is difficult to perceive in such a cheery song.
Just as bright and cheerful is “Sunflower” (a popular name for songs lately, isn’t it?). This song is contagious. It has a quick tempo and a catchy, repetitive chorus. Some other songs do actually sound as ponderous as their lyrics are. “Big Blue,” for instance, another shorter track, incorporates a bit of disharmony, creating an uneasy feeling.
Every track on this album is worth a listen, all 18 of them. My other favorites include “How Long?” a bit more of an R&B-esque track, “Flower Moon” and “Rich Man.” I’d suggest multiple listens to these songs, once with a focus on the music itself, once with a focus on the lyrics. The two often tell entirely different stories.
