Description
After a six-year break and the departure of member Rostam Batmanglij, New York indie rockers Vampire Weekend are finally back with a fourth studio album, produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and frontman Ezra Koenig. For this effort they have invited a cohort of guests, including Dave Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), Steve Lacy (The Internet), Danielle Haim, and Jenny Lewis.
Father of the Bride is so zealously detailed and meticulously contoured that you easily sink into its inventions: the whirl of country picking, surf-guitar twang and classical interlude in “Harmony Hall”; the loopy hip-hop of “Sunflower” with its creeping-vocal riff; the Soweto-like bounce and AutoTuned-Beach Boys-style chorale in “Flower Moon.” But the sound is a return original form: Vampire Weekend and Contra, except arguably better with the upgraded production and thoughtful textures. The change from indie to mainstream in the tiniest of microcosms: a Vampire Weekend album.
