These guys are freaking everywhere. This is one of those strange albums that seems to find this inexplicable mass appeal among Anybody Inclined To Listen To Indie Rock. I've never found a really reliable explanation for this bizarre phenomenon. It's not like this album is part of an unusually commercially viable subset of "indie rock," it merely has great pull amongst the indie rock set. It's far quirkier and obscure than far less popular indie rock albums... and, yet, here I am, reviewing an album that I was referred to by, like, everyone. I have noticed that this type of album usually has something critics herald as a "unique" or "new" or "quirky" sound. The sound weirds the proceedings up just enough for the vast armada of tone-deaf indie rockers to latch on to it and almost enough for everyone to eventually notice (or resign to) how uninspired and dull the songwriting is. Thankfully, "Vampire Weekend" is neither uninspired nor dull. It is, however, by and large unworthy of the glowing praise so frequently heaped upon it.
Vampire Weekend seems to have struck the perfect balance here. Not only is the production wittily sparse and specific (even as it feigns laxity), the songwriting seems to hearken back to mid-20th century rock, without making this point too dramatically to offend. All this being said, it's an adorable album and, if this is your thing, you'll get a month or two of great listening out of it. That's more than worth the asking price. The weaker tracks ("Bryn" and "One (Blake's Got A New Face)") are given undeserved but enjoyable charm by their clever production, and the stronger tracks ("Oxford Comma," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," "M79" and "A-Punk") exhibit the same charm in production and complement it with inspired, if overtly simplistic, writing.
In short, it's a delightfully weird album. Arcade Fire on Prozac and cocaine. It's a deliriously silly and often immature affair, but when things click it is shockingly affecting. It has the kind of quirkiness that people will either quickly respond to or swiftly reject -- an admirable quality. Either way, I would recommend that any lover of pop-rock give this a listen. Enough of you will get a kick out of it, if only for a brief period. The album shows enough real emotive power to suggest future work with more lasting value but at this early stage Vampire Weekend have yet to demonstrate anything more exciting than their potential.
Vampire Weekend on the iTunes Store:
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