It’s been more than two years since I last featured a Vampire Weekend song on the blog — a whole pandemic!
It’s been just shy of three years since the band released a new album. 2019’s Father of the Bride, their fourth release, was the first without founding member and co-songwriter Rostam Batmanglij. The left lead singer Ezra Koenig to carry the creative weight, a role he seemed to relish.
But no new music since.
Here we go. This week I will reveal my five favorite albums of the last decade. Three of these appeared on my list of “best albums of the decade so far” back in 2014, though in slightly different order. The other two were released during the past five years.
At #5 is the third album by Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City. This was the band’s final album with multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij in the lineup, and it remains their best work to date.
At long last, today marks the release of Father of the Bride, Vampire Weekend’s fourth studio album. This is one of my most anticipated records of the year given the band’s stellar track record to date.
Early song releases have been promising, though a few of them were more like filler than actual songs. That’s fine with me. I don’t like hearing much of an album before I can hear the whole thing.
Yes, queen! New music from Vampire Weekend! What a lovely and welcome surprise. It’s been six years since the band’s last album, Modern Vampires of the City, which topped my list of the best albums of 2013. That’s a friggin’ lifetime.
Last week the band dropped two tracks from their upcoming album, Father of the Bride. Both are unmistakably Vampire Weekend, which is a relief given the departure of key member Rostam Batmanglij.
It’s been six years since Vampire Weekend’s last album, the extraordinary Modern Vampires of the City.
Lots has happened since then, including the departure of key band member Rostam Batmanglij and a relationship between frontman Ezra Koenig and one of my celebrity girlfriends, Rashida Jones, which resulted in the birth of their first child last summer.
Meet Me In Montauk 