Some good comes out of this absence: Koenig gets free-reign to chase whatever ideas capture his attention, resulting in the sticky-sweet melodies of “How Long?,” “This Life,” and “Unbearably White.” More importantly, these songs aren’t necessarily bogged down by Batmanglij‘s monomaniacal production choices indeed, in some ways, Father of the Bride represents a revitalization of the simple formula that made Vampire Weekend’s debut so indelible. For his part, the band’s frontman Ezra Koenig delivered tragicomic, often portentous lyricism that highlights the emotional and existential tension between a religious upbringing and an agnostic education.įather of the Bride is, however, something of a mixed bag - or, more accurately, ‘Ezra’s grab-bag.’ Batmanglij‘s departure from the group a few years ago obviously portended a change, but it wasn’t entirely clear how much the multi-instrumentalist defined Vampire Weekend’s sound until now (though 2009’s Discovery, a Batmanglij side-project, seemed to suggest that the answer to this was ‘quite a bit’). This is partially due to Batmanglij, who, filling an increasingly important role as composer and producer, follows a number of weird pathways, with production gimmicks (chipmunk’d vocals, pitch shifting, and chopping and screwing), densely layered arrangements, and an extensive utilization of classic melodies from the Western canon.
That album’s follow-up, Contra, upgraded Vampire Weekend’s production chops - but it was their third album, 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City, that became a culminating moment for the band, one that fundamentally altered and expanded their sound and their songwriting. The band’s self-titled 2008 debut has aged into being one of this millennium’s iconic LPs, wearing its ‘60s pop, Latin, African, and classical Western influences unabashedly.
From the moment Vampire Weekend stepped off the Columbia University campus and quite literally into Rostam Batmanglij’s “studio” apartment to record songs about Lil Jon, the United Nations, and their own grammatical inclinations, they have been nothing if not indie-pop royalty.
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