Only God Was Above Us

Vampire Weekend

explicit

Released on 05-04-2024 by Columbia
Main artists: Vampire Weekend
Genre: Alternative en Indie
Distinctions: Pitchfork: Best New Music

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Language available : english

Middle-age looks great on Vampire Weekend. Singer Ezra Koenig has said Only God Was Above Us, their fifth studio album, contains "some of our most ambitious swings ever"—and it's fascinating to hear a band once known for being mannered, maybe even twee, really go for it. "Ice Cream Piano" initially taps into Beatles classicism with a dreamy melody and solemn piano, then kicks into Xanadu madness: shotgun spray drums, peppy keys, strings like a gossamer waterfall, and the gleeful racing rhythm that was a hallmark of VW's early work. "‘Fuck the world,'/ You said it quiet … ," Ezra Koenig sings. "Cynical, you can't deny it/ You don't want to win this war/ 'Cause you don't want the peace." But there is, blissfully, nothing cynical about Only God Was Above Us. The Flaming Lips' go-to guy Dave Fridmann is the engineer here and brings a signature sense of buoyancy to Koenig and longtime producer Ariel Rechtshaid's earthbound cool. On spacey "Capricorn," Koenig sounding like he's floating untethered through the cosmos amidst big, tumbling drums, Chris Baio's well-deep bass, and guitar like a streaking, shooting star. (Note the Easter egg of "too old for dying young, too young to live alone"—a seeming nod to 2013's "Diane Young" as the once-babyfaced members stare down 40.) There's a lot going on, and you can hear everything beautifully. Ditto the howling, yet elegant sax and '90s acoustic jangle guitar on "Classical," which also draws on the band's old-favorite Graceland influences. Free-range piano and slide guitar collide in "Gen-X Cops." And fascinating, maximalist "Connect" is otherworldly with its wild-prodigy piano, cartoon sci-fi bloops and bleeps, and jazzy rubber-band bass. It's orchestral mania that hops and skips all over the place, yet somehow feels cohesive.

Koenig—who was influenced by raga and studied with composer Terry Riley in Japan in preparation for the record—sounds as youthful as ever (keep in mind, this is a guy who sounded a lot like Paul Simon at 22), and there are so many winks to now-classic VW flourishes. "Prep-School Gangsters" borrows the spiky, chime-note guitar of early records and complements it with sawing strings. Even though the band is now based in Los Angeles, their NYC home is still a major character. "The Surfer" references Manhattan's water system and its legendary role in pizza dough and bagel supremacy; it's also haunted by the city's '90s hip-hop moodiness. A song is named for iconic '80s Soho gallerist Mary Boone; daubed with ennui, it feels a lot like A Tribe Called Quest's "Can I Kick It." Album closer "Hope," the band's longest song ever put to record, gets woozy on slide guitar as Koenig wonders if we can ever learn to choose our battles: "The bull has gored the matador/ The US Army won the war/ The meaning died in metaphor … The righteous rage was foolish pride … Your bag fell down onto the tracks … The moving train accelerates/ It's always fast and always late … I hope you let it go." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Only God Was Above Us

Vampire Weekend

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