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Music Picks
Music

Vampire Weekend's Love Bites

A genuinely new breed of pop.

Christine Choquette 14 Feb 2008TheTyee.ca

Christine Choquette is a Vancouver-based writer, and a member of indie band Onward Voyageur.
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Retro, ska, Afro-pop and New York sounds.

I would be surprised if, at first listen, Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut (XL Recordings, January 2008) doesn't immediately bite listeners. There is a quiet complexity hard at work here that reveals these New Yorkers' diverse tastes and talents. Vampire Weekend is a brand new breed of pop.

At a time when critics complain everything musical has been done (and done to death), these four Columbia University graduates dive enthusiastically into uncharted waters and come up with a successful marriage of Afro-pop and ska with retro underpinnings and a definite New York flavour.

Because of the New York feel, Strokes comparisons are inevitable; the songs are impossibly hooky, the music energetic and infectious, and the lyrics, charming and witty.

The opening track, "Mansard Roof" is a smart pop gem with complex drumming, seemingly effortless changes and sunny lyrics. "Oxford Comma," with warm keyboards carrying it along, is another standout of catchy perfection. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" revisits a bygone beachside era (it makes me long for breezy summer days at the seaside) and has the strongest, and most obvious, Paul Simon nod. While "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" is too reggae for my tastes, "Bryn," with its whimsical love letter lyrics, and "I Stand Corrected" are both irresistibly effervescent and engaging.

On listening to these 11 well-crafted songs, it is easy to see how the band has garnered ardent fans like David Byrne and Lou Reed.

Get bitten yourself! Catch Vampire Weekend when they play Richard's on Richards in Vancouver on March 27 (their only B.C. show).

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