Each of Vampire Weekend’s three albums has the distinct aroma of a different season.
Vampire Weekend’s 2008 self-titled debut is a perfect summer album: light and upbeat, blending indie guitar licks and Baroque pop with African beats. “Mansard Roof,” “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and “Campus” balance genuine nods to coastal New England and self-aware sarcasm about how they’re all Ivy Leaguers in pastel polos.
2010’s Contra sees Vampire Weekend grow up a little bit from the college-age personas presented on Vampire Weekend. More pensive songs, like “Taxi Cab,” “Diplomat’s Son” and “I Think Ur a Contra,” often dwell on themes of nostalgia, discontent and maturation and make this an impeccably sharp fall album.
The band’s most recent album, 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City, continues that maturation into full-fledged adulthood. “Obvious Bicycle” opens the album on the same restless note as “I Think Ur a Contra” closed the previous one.
While other songs on Modern Vampires, particularly “Unbelievers” and “Hannah Hunt,” discuss that feeling of dissatisfaction upon reaching adulthood; “Obvious Bicycle” is the most, well, obvious about it. The second half of the first verse points to the realization that the world doesn’t care about individuals: “Oh you ought to spare your face the razor / Because no one’s gonna spare their time for you / You ought to spare the world your labor / It’s been twenty years and no one’s told the truth.”
Modern Vampires’ foray further into a world of malaise and antipathy toward 21st century life is reflected on its black and white cover of a smog-covered Manhattan. This is Vampire Weekend’s winter album: darker than before, but still with an unshakable sense of warmth.
So where does Vampire Weekend go from here? Now that the band has announced its return after about four years of hiatus and solo projects — it’ll be performing at Lollapalooza, End of the Road and the Fuji Rock Festival this summer — it’s not too much of a stretch to expect that LP number four is just around the corner.
Since that hiatus, each member of Vampire Weekend has gone his own way. Drummer Chris Tomson released his first solo record, Youngish American, under the stage name Dams of the West. Bassist Chris Baio put out both his debut and sophomore albums under the mononym Baio. Lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Ezra Koenig has done countless side gigs, including featuring on a SBTRKT song, appearing on Girls, hosting a radio show called “Time Crisis” and — perhaps most ambitiously — creating, writing and producing a Netflix anime series titled Neo Yokio.
But the biggest question facing Vampire Weekend on its forthcoming record is how Koenig, Baio and Tomson will deal with the hole left by the departure of multi-instrumentalist and producer Rostam Batmanglij. Batmanglij will continue to work with the band, but much of the creative direction will fall on Koenig’s shoulders.
It seems fitting, then, that album four will be the spring album in my head — it’ll be a rebirth. The indie scene has changed since 2013, and Vampire Weekend must know that in the lead-up to the fourth album.
The album’s working title, Mitsubishi Macchiato, could not be more stereotypically Vampire Weekend. Perhaps that signals a return to Vampire Weekend’s world roots while continuing to innovate, or maybe the more experimental sounds of Modern Vampires will be expanded further.
Either way, whatever Vampire Weekend throws at us will show us whether or not the band can leap forward into the spring or stay caught in the cold of winter.
Alex McCann is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are you expecting from Vampire Weekend on its fourth album? Tweet Alex @alexrmccann.
