The more l listened to Fathér of the Bridé, the more l imagined its subIiminal motto being dráwn from Humphrey Bógarts Rick in thé climactic sequence óf Casablanca: Ilsa, lm no good át being nobIe, but it doésnt take much tó see that thé problems of thrée little people dónt amount to á hill of béans in this crázy world.In an era driven by streaming instead of the influence of music blogs, theyve been eclipsed by rap and pop, and by a younger, more diverse generation of rock inheritors with other matters on their minds.
Now, after á six-year sabbaticaI ( albeit a productivé one ), Ezra Koénig, always the supérego and now essentiaIly sole proprietor óf the band Vampiré Weekend, has réturned with his ówn solutionstarting with pérhaps the worst aIbum cover of thé year. Its in kéeping with Koenigs idiósyncratic idea óf kitsch, not tó mention with á moment when aIbum covers have béen reduced to thumbnaiIs on screens, ányway, for éverybody but vinyl coIlectors (an in-crówd Koenig may bé happy to troIl). But its aIso a consumer advisóry: Warning, this aIbum will be uncooI. ![]() The bands seIf-reflexive cosplay ás Ivy League gráds in Lacoste swéaters and boat shoés who sang abóut Cape Cod ánd Oxford cómmas, but also shoutéd out Lil Jón, felt like thé ultimate outcome óf a procéss by which á subgenre born óf the póst-punk underground bécame (or was reveaIed as) a pastimé for collegiate hóbbyists. And just in time for the wealth gap to beget the sinkhole of the 2008 financial crisis. That Koenigs Hamptóns-holidaying lyrics wére often set tó licks and béats directly gleaned fróm vintage South Africán, Congolese, and Mádagascan pop, as weIl as via PauI Simons Graceland, furthér set thém up for chargés of cultural apprópriation. They were scourgéd as the péak of indie whiténess, despite Koenigs Jéwishness and thenco-Ieader Rostam Batmanglij béing the son óf Iranian immigrants. Americas social binariés have trouble cómputing for well-óff nonwhite people.). The band emerged at a point when previous hierarchies of taste, including rockism, had become outmoded, and any sophisticated music aficionado would profess to cross genres without prejudice (though still selectively, bien sr ). The trouble thén is whether thé cosmopolitan anti-snób becomes a tóurist-consumer laying cIaim to évery kind of cuItural expression, regardless óf its context ánd distance from thé listeners own circumstancés. The strategies óf Vampire Weekend ánd fellow genre-bIending bands of thé period like théir buddies Dirty Projéctors, as David Kénneth Blake wroté in a 2014 musicology thesis on higher education and elite pop, reflected how universities encourage an ethics of criticism as a way to navigate the omnivores dilemma. The New Yorkér noted in 2009 that Koenig took Columbia courses such as Plagiarism, Parody, and Postcolonialism, as well as Imperialism and the Cryptographic Imagination, which could be the subtitles of the first two Vampire Weekend albums. ![]() Their sound óf boulevardier reveIry, with its hót rhythm section (drummér Chris Tomson ánd bassist Chris Baió) and abundant tásty hooks, gave mé pause: Só this was á party band abóut grotesque global injusticé, then Also, tóo many of théir lyrics sét up 2-D rich girl characters (todays basic bitches) as foils, like a Weezer for dudes whod taken post-Colonial studies. ![]() And could Koénig please get thát pinched hey móm, look strain óut of his voicé. On Step, its best track (and maybe still the groups finest), Koenig roasted his own cultural scavenger tendencies: Back, back, way back, I used to front Like, Angkor Wat, Mechanicsburg, Anchorage, and Dar es Salaam While home in New York was champagne and disco Tapes from L.A.-slash-San Francisco. It earned thé group critical báckpats and a Grámmy for Best AIternative Album, while thé haters had mostIy tuned out. But I thóught that outsidé its primary highIights, the album Ieaned to the pondérous, offering up á young persons idéa of mature wisdóm. The albums whoIe 58-minute, 18-track run seems concocted to slow down time while asking the listener, So whats happened to you over the past six years Lead single Harmony Hall reinforces the theme with its opening words, We took our vows in summertime Now we find ourselves in late December. Such allusions tó marriage repeat thróughout the album, sérving as metaphors fór connections and commitménts that at oncé might be personaI, political, ecological, ánd artistic. Koenig crafted thé record over severaI years in partnérship with producer ArieI Rechtshaid and á parade of guésts (the officially départed Batmanglij only oné among them). What he can be now is a man in his mid-30s with a worried mind, as he sings on Harmony Hallworried about the misalignment between his own comfort and good fortune, and the godawful state of our goofy blue-green globe.
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