Vampire Weekend: Father of the Bride review – a marriage of angst and optimism
(Columbia)
The band’s first album in six years is both a callback to their preppy roots and a mature evolution of melting pot pop
“Copper goes green, steel beams go rust,” muses Ezra Koenig on 2021, a track contemplating the passage of time on Vampire Weekend’s fourth album, Father of the Bride. It has been six long years since the band’s last outing, the feted Modern Vampires of the City, which drew to a close a triptych of albums that found this group of Columbia University graduates cleverly fusing west African guitars and uptight east coast stylings.
The working title for the new record was Mitsubishi Macchiato – a parody, almost, of this guitar outfit’s signature metropolitan wit. But Father of the Bride is a summary that feels earned for the band’s return. Much of this generous 18-track double album – from the opener Hold You Now, with its prenuptial vignette, through to Married in a Gold Rush – riffs on love, weddings and churches. It’s an album that exudes warmth and no little sonic familiarity, while reflecting what is a radically altered set-up.