Of all the songs on Vampire Weekend’s stellar debut album, ‘One (Blake’s Got a New Face)’ was the hardest to love at first listen. It starts out great, with one of those Graceland riffs that permeate the record, but once Ezra Koenig hits the chorus, all bets are off.
Now I must go on record and say that I’ve always kind of liked the call-and-answer shrillness of this song’s chorus. Its oddness suggests the confidence with which the whole record was made.