Vampire Weekend began their career like most college bands: toiling away in the relative obscurity of bars around campus. Eventually, though, the indie press noticed their clever mixture of well-crafted melodic pop, African rhythms and New York rock sensibilities, prompting XL Recordings to sign them and put out their very good eponymous first album. Its youthful energy, more than its oft-touted world influence, makes it a compelling and involving listen.
Vampire Weekend opens with the band’s first single, “Mansard Roof,” which sets the tone with its fluid bass line, warm keyboard arpeggios and a bouncing drum rhythm. It is easily the most Beatlesesque song on the album and would be the catchiest if it were not followed by “Oxford Comma,” one of the funniest songs about grammar you’re ever likely to encounter. Vocalist Ezra Koenig serves up playful jabs about spelling and diction, exclaiming over a building crescendo that “Lil’ Jon always tells the truth,” as if we ever really doubted that.
The band’s world music influence, is more apparent on songs like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and “Bryn,” which boasts island-jam Jamaican melodies and rolling African dance rhythms. Still, Vampire Weekend is mainly an alternative rock band, less similar to world artists like Manu Chao or Fela Kuti than to indie contemporaries like the Walkmen or Voxtrot.
Fortunately, even if the music doesn’t really live up to its professed melting pot of influences, it functions as an excellent pop record. The band has a knack for tight songwriting and crafting memorable melodies, and nearly every track has something to offer. Only “One” fails to impress, as it seems less refined and less sure than the surrounding material. Even so, the song’s lyrics maintain the album’s feelings of fun and whimsy. And as Vampire Weekend draws to a close after barely thirty minutes, it’s hard not to want more.
Vampire Weekend; Vampire Weekend; XL Recordings
