My gosh fishes, this octopus has its tentacles reaching for all points of this vast ocean. Over the past couple of months, the NY outfit Vampire Weekend has been acquiring a decent amount of hype through their touring with already buzz-heazy groups like Animal Collective but more appropriately for their esoteric melding of African pop and Classical musics. The vocals from Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmangli are always upbeat, often aloof and usually self-concerned allegorical tales, delivered Sahara dry. However, this dulled down vocal style creates beautiful dichotomy when its laid over the band’s hyperbolic indie rock. The instrumentation is really like the equivalent to a musical bluescreen that takes the vocals to the edges of the Earth and back again.

“M79″’s rolling organs and violins showcase the quartet’s melodic wizardry by conjuring up imagery of Elizabethan snobbery. ‘Bryn’ sports a guitar style which sounds as if Django Reinhart got melded to Paul Simon in an apocalyptic catastrophe.
If Vampire Weekend were attempting an experiment by matching low-key vocals to ridiculously versatile soundscapes the experiment was significantly successful. Although the vocals initially may spark fears of self-indulgent been there’s and done that’s, the musical beast which duels with the lyrics stays on point and goes beyond the point in miraculous fashion.

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