Vampire Weekend: Roar, Lions, Roar
I must admit it thrills me –as a Columbia University alum AND as a dweeby, over-educated white guy–to wake up in a world where Vampire Weekend is the IT indie rock band of the moment (making the cover of Spin on Internet hype and a fan circulated CD-R before the January release of its debut album).
It turns out that the band’s self-titled CD is a good as the hype–tuneful, clean, smart songs in tight arrangements over herky jerky but locked down rhythms you can dance to: it’s a sound that blends its obvious influences (guitar driven South and West African pop, brainy early 80s new age) into a something remarkably fresh.
It’s a young person’s album–made by men just out of their spongy college years when every new experience and sound soaks in deeply. And it’s made by a real band–whose music reflects the personalties and influences of each member.
So who would you cite as your influences? asked Bwog, the Columbia Blue and White magazine blog.
Ezra [Koenig, guitarist, singer, lyricist]: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Kanda Bongomen, Reggaeton. I want to call it bodega music but I’m pretty sure that’s not politically correct. It’s called Bachata, I think.
Rostam [Batmanglij, keyboards, guitar, music major]: I’ve been listening to a lot of Beethoven. (Laughs) No, really.
Ezra: My favorite African guitarist is Orchestra Baobab.
Chris [Tomson drums, music major]: I’ve been listening to the Band.
The breezy ease and clean openness with which the music is executed masks the sophisticated, episodic nature of the arrangements. It doesn’t sound orchestral but strings and woodwindy synths do appear, sliding in and out of songs like swelling tides you take for granted.
Said Batmanglij to Columbia College Today last spring:
I like to make Vampire Weekend’s sound always moving, danceable. That’s something I have heard in a lot of African music. But at the same time, I have an interest in classical music, which has a defined logic, but is still catchy and universal in a pop way. I am interested in the way classical music and pop music can intersect.
Not since Mick Jagger of Play with Fire or Beggar’s Banquet has a rock songwriter written so jadedly, blithely, and unapologetically addressed the life of the upper crust (Hyannisport is a ghetto, goes one lyric…Why would you lie about how much coal you have?, goes another).
The braininess of the words have gotten Koenig a lot of attention. The lyrics of Oxford Comma, which uses the idea of grammar as its central metaphor have gotten the most press. And rarely has rock lyricist explained a song this way:
Part of the idea of Oxford Comma is the idea of grammar as this obvious construct that’s a categorical imperative because it’s so specific to the English language. It’s kind of linguistic imperialism.
But its the visual detail Koenig uses to build his characters, and to locate them socially, that makes the songs work:
As a young girl
Louis Vitton
with your mother
on a sandy lawn
or
English Breakfast tastes like Darjeeling
But she’s too cute to even ask
or
A devastating backstroke
all the way from France
with shiny, shiny cuff links
a shirtsleeve to enhance.
Vampire Weekend may find in the end that its self-defined “African preppy” musical aesthetic is a bit of a trap, or it may evolve into a band that builds on the vast promise of this great debut album.
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