Fully realized debut albums like Vampire Weekend come along once in a great while, and these songs show that this band is smart, but not too smart for their own good.
This is emotionally pulling music, but they instill such a vivid, literary sense to it that I find hard to ignore.
Bring any baggage you want to this record, and it still returns nothing but warm, airy, low-gimmick pop, peppy, clever, and yes, unpretentious
Vampire Weekend take their Ivy League education, their New Jersey upbringing, and turn it outward – arms open, hurling themselves across the freshly cut college grass, shirts creasing under the afternoon sun.
Vampire Weekend have created a record which includes the kind of structures, influences and classical elements that your average Hard-Fi fan isn’t likely to understand, but present them in such a way that doesn’t yell ‘LOOK AT US, WE’RE USING COMPLICATED STUFF AND YOU’RE LISTENING TO RUBBISH COD REGGAE! HA!’.
The young band's saving grace is compactness, which not only saves thousands of dollars in kora-player and backup-singer bills, but also keeps things alert and accessible.
#2 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#3 | / | Paste |
#4 | / | NME |
#4 | / | Q Magazine |
#6 | / | musicOMH |
#7 | / | A.V. Club |
#7 | / | Pitchfork |
#7 | / | The Guardian |
#9 | / | No Ripcord |
#10 | / | Rolling Stone |