Album Review: Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend

Album: Father of the Bride
Artist: Vampire Weekend
Release Date: May 3, 2019
Favorite Tracks:

• Hold You Now
• Harmony Hall
• We Belong Together
• Sympathy
• Jerusalem, New York, Berlin

Thoughts:

I’ve liked Vampire Weekend since I first heard “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” a dozen years ago.  But I like them with the uneasiness of a white, preppy dude who grew up in the suburbs and likes the sounds of music of non-Western cultures listening to other white, preppy dudes who grew up in the suburbs incorporate those sounds into their pop music.  We’re all probably guilty of some level of cultural appropriation.

The sound on Father of the Bride is more stripped down than preceding Vampire Weekend albums.  It’s more of a folk rock sound with a little Laurel Canyon singer/songwriter. The lyrics also show the band in a different place, older and concerned with mortality and an uncertain present.  “I don’t wanna live like this, but I don’t wanna die,” bandleader Ezra Koenig sings on “Harmony Hall.” Those are words capture the zeitgeist of the times, and yet are hidden in a sunny pop tune that typifies much of the album.

Rating: ***