Vampire Weekend - Contra (XL Recordings) 11/01/2010

My first review of twenty-ten, but listening to this album it could quite easily have been Paul Simon from 1986 and his Graceland era. Not exactly what I was expecting, but from a band formed in 2006, had I done a little probing, that they'd been "influenced by both African popular music and Western classical music", this would have been something that might have been perfectly clear.

So what's all the fuss about? It's not as if this band are 'freshman', having nailed their flag to the mast during the middle of the noughties, a band who until the release of their latest long-player, I'd forgotten I'd been a "fan of" - funny how these things go.

Vampire Weekend, their eponymous debut, could well have been described as chock full of those songs you knew, but were uncertain where this relationship had come about. But from the second track on the album "Oxford Comma", you were certain that maybe in a drunken stuper, you'd got up-close and personal and by the time time "A-Punk" came around some 2 and a half minutes later, it had surely been "LOVE".

OK, enough of my confessions of a one-night-stand, let's proceed to the subject of this review. 'Contra' is going to be more than just a fleeting romance and with their Upper West Side Soweto now fully formed, Peter's Simon and Gabriel, it is clear are still around for moral support, but maybe only as posters on the wall of a recording studio.

It's clear that the content of this album could be described as possessing the intoxicating effects of a smooth malt, easily consumed with an affable nature, but if you are teetotal it's good to know that by listening to this CD you won't have to compromise your values. This band are quite a shot in the arm, not your usual troupe of 3 chord wonders, the classical influence clearly high on the agenda.

In relation to what's presented here, that over used adage going along the lines of "...that difficult second album" is clearly not something that could ever come to mind. Two years in the making has certainly seen the band perfect what has become 'Contra', a perfect dawn to a new decade. From 'Horchata' to 'I Think Ur A Contra', this is surely destined for greatness, a later day "classic". 9/10

Nick James

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