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Vampire Weekend: Not Just for College Anymore |
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Monday, 31 March 2008 |
by ANNA DONLAN
Staff Photographer
Serial comma: a comma preceding the final conjunction in a list of three or more items; also called Harvard comma, Oxford comma.
Who cares about an oxford comma? No one. That's who. And certainly not Vampire Weekend, the quartet hailing from New York City that states this information explicitly on Oxford Comma, track two of the band's debut album Vampire Weekend released in January.
If
the world played out to Vampire Weekend, it would always be sunny.
The
bouncy bassline is the sound of each Chuck-Taylored step skipping along
the pavement; everyone smiles giant, open-mouthed smiles at each other
as they point and say "heeeeey" and high five each other.
Lead singer
Ezra Koenig's generally joyous vocals stretch naturally and playfully,
backed by the high-pitched Rostam Batmanglij, reminiscent of Beach Boys
harmonies.
The frequent string and synth accompaniments add to their
vintage surf-pop feel; the conga drums on Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa feel
straight out of an Outback commercial--in a good way--where tanned
young people throw volleyballs around and limbo while they grill shrimp.
But Vampire
Weekend isn't to be taken lightly. In spite of the simplistically
honest lyrics, reminiscent of Jens Lekman's direct style--the simple
narration of Mansard Roof; the mocking observances of Blake's Got a New
Face; the sweet rhymes of I Stand Corrected--it's clear that Vampire
Weekend possesses a deliberateness, an intentionality uncommon for its
genre.
The music is clean, the songs experimentations in the classic,
the been-done. But that's the thing about Vampire Weekend: they haven't
been done.
Even with all of their familiar techniques, they produce
something new, upbeat, and, most importantly, unique. And for that, I
say they can be the soundtrack to my bar-be-que any day.
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