Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride, Album Review
Vampire Weekend
Father of the Bride
Album Review
Up until now, Vampire Weekend were a band that I definitely knew of but may not have known too well. Of course I knew of their classic hits such as "A-Punk" and "Step". However, this fourth studio album by the band, titled Father of the Bride stood as my first real stab at exploring their musical approach.
After listening to this album, I believe that this may have been a very good time indeed to start getting into Vampire Weekend and their music as this album offers just under an hours worth of music with a generous total of 18 songs. As well as this, the band seems to be taking a more experimental approach on this album, with a wide variety in terms of instrumentation. This all comes together to create an album which I could best describe as Vampire Weekends attempt to create a world music album (I mean look at the album cover).
Given that the "world music" aesthetic of the album suggest that it includes a wide variety of cultural qualities (which it does), the two most prominent styles are the unlikely combination of country and a sort of African style soul. As well as this, theres obviously the typical Vampire Weekend pop-rock flare as well as some quirky electronic distortions to give some of the songs an extra kick. I also enjoyed how featured artists such as Danielle Haim and Steve Lacy appear in multiple tracks rather than just one each.
This album was teased by six tracks that came before the full album and were released in groups of two. "Harmony Hall" and "2021" were the first two tracks. Following them were "Sunflower" and "Big Blue". Lastly came "This Life" and "Unbearably White". While I only gave the first two teasers a listen prior to the album, there are a number of remaining teaser tracks that I enjoyed a lot upon listening to Father of the Bride in full.
Out of the six teaser tracks revealed, I'd say that I enjoyed "Harmony Hall", "Sunflower", "This Life" and "Unbearably White" were the four that I enjoyed.
Given that this album has a larger track list than most, I did enjoy some songs more than others. With this, there were a fair few tracks that got overshadowed by ones that I enjoyed more. But having said this, there are still many tracks on this album that I love, each of which feel very unique.
I love the way that the album begins with the first track "Hold You Now" as it gives a very vivid idea of what to expect. not to mention that it stands as an incredibly fulfilling way to kick things off.
Other tracks I loved listening to include "My Mistake", "Sympathy", "We Belong Together" and "Stranger". But my favourite track currently would have to be "Flower Moon". It just has a very soothing and luminous but also upbeat energy to it.
Overall, I would say that Father of the Bride is an incredibly vibrant and colourful piece that is guaranteed to make you feel good and proves Vampire Weekend can in-fact excel in making world music. They could've just left it at that, but they took it a step further and experimented as much as they could. The resulting album is something that feels very exclusive to Vampire Weekend.
Thank you for reading,
Booth Boy
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