Vampire Weekend’s Only God Was Above Us: An Album Review

As my time at The College Voice comes to an end, I wanted to reflect on the articles I have written from the past four years, and I remembered that my first article was an album review of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. To achieve a full circle moment, I decided that my final article should be a review of an album that just came out by Vampire Weekend- one of my favorite bands since 2018. Only God Was Above Us took a few listens for me to truly appreciate it for what it is. Personally, I think the best albums are the ones that don’t really click right away as you realize that there are so many things to explore within one album: the songwriting, production and instrumentation. Everything that I love about them makes an appearance on this album as Vampire Weekend (now based in Los Angeles) rediscovers their New York City roots with a heavy indie rock sound with jazz and electronic influences. Within the 10 track album, Vampire Weekend asks themselves is it possible to go back to what once was?

The album starts off with “Ice Cream Piano,” a seemingly odd title that eventually reveals its true meaning: ‘I Scream Piano’. The track starts at a slow beat with the vocals quietly singing: “Fuck the world. You said it quiet, no one could hear you- no one but me.”  Eventually (and unexpectedly), the song turns into a guitar and drum heavy track with falsetto vocals, portraying a quiet rage. The second track is “Classical,” a song that has the true Vampire Weekend sound with singable lyrics and catchy guitar hooks that samples the band’s older songs such as “Holiday”, from the 2010 album Contra, and “Mansard Roof”, from the band’s 2008 self-titled album. Examining the perpetual power of the rich within social classes, Ezra Koenig (the lead singer) asks “It’s clear something’s gonna change and when it does, which classical remains?” 

“Capricorn” is an ode to people born at the end of December and are robbed of celebrating their new age before the year restarts. The track starts off slow with a guitar strumming before taking a left turn and becoming more of a steampunk-esque tune with catchy piano playing that sounds straight from the band’s third album, Modern Vampires of the City. From the chorus, Koenig sings “I know you’re tired of trying, listen baby you don’t have to try,” a theme found lyrically throughout the album.  “Connect” is a piano-driven eerie song about yearning to connect to a non-materialistic world in a capitalist society. Throughout the chorus, Koenig asks himself, “Is it strange I can’t connect?” in both a metaphoric and literal sense that leads to more questions than answers. “Prep School Gangsters” is a fun song that was inspired by a 1996 New York magazine story about the odd alliance between New York City gangs and private school kids. The catchy guitar and vocals are a reminder of the band’s origin as a preppy band from New York City.  

“The Surfer” changes the momentum of the album with a California-esque groove that feels like driving down a highway with the windows down and the ocean by your side. “Gen X Cops” has a familiar classic indie rock sound with a ghostly twist. “Mary Boone” (my new favorite Vampire Weekend song) is an ode to the actual Mary Boone who was a popular art dealer and collector in NYC during the 1980’s. The sampling of a choral group and the frenetic piano playing throughout the song makes it stand out against the rest and becomes a turning point in the album. “Pravda” (meaning ‘truth’ in Russian) addresses the feeling of nostalgia in terms of place whether that be NYC, or Russia in this case. The vocals really stand out in this track with a catchy hook that has you singing along with the chorus. “Hope” closes out the album with an almost eight minute track (one of Vampire Weekend’s longest songs to date). Lyrically, this song offers a different message compared to the other songs- a message of hope (hence the title). Pitchfork’s interpretation of the song truly describes the album as a whole: even if you can’t go back to what once was, you can get pretty close. The band takes advantage of their eight minutes and delves into a jam band-esque groove. The last four minutes truly sound like they could be at the end of a coming of age indie film.

Overall, my three favorite songs from this record are “Mary Boone”, “Classical” and “Ice Cream Piano”. The similarity between all three of these tracks is the ability of Vampire Weekend to unexpectedly take the listener to different places that you wouldn’t expect which is truly credited to their talent and musicality. While I don’t have a song on here that I dislike, I would say that “The Surfer” is the weakest on the album only because the song takes the listener out of the consistency of the album. Only God Was Above Us has become my favorite album of the year so far (move aside Tortured Poets Department and Cowboy Carter) and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to give it a listen!