Over the past few years, we have slowly been introduced to a new side of Vampire Weekend. The band has flipped their catchy pop-rock tunes into expansive sonic universes that allow their influences to shine as evidenced by their collaborative Father of the Bride LP and their more recent work with Sam Gendel and Goose. These projects now feel like appetizers for what the band had been planning all along, taking these experiences and influences and honing them to fit their once simplistic yet potent brand of pop-rock. Years of tireless toying have resulted in the most ambitious album from the band yet, Only God Was Above Us is Vampire Weekend as you’ve never heard them before. For 10 face-melting tracks, the veteran band holds your hand through a cosmic journey of funky drums and cinematic strings that introduces us to more than a new side to the band, they sound like a completely new band altogether.
Only God Was Above Us is a return to form to some degree but at the same time, it is an entirely new direction from the veteran pope-punkers. Coming off the release of their experimental 2021 release, the band incorporates prog-rock and jazzy influences into their natural ability to pen infectious pop tunes. Far less hooky than past releases, frontman Ezra Koenig pens lengthy verses that detail his catastrophic view of the modern world. The album seems to center around the idea that the end is near while ironically ushering in a new, expansive era for a band with very little to prove.
Almost Immediately, You notice that Koenig’s unique vocal tones take somewhat of a backseat on Vampire Weekend’s latest. While the narrative is carried by his poetic songwriting and his ability to inject so many emotions into each note, the cinematic arrangements and their warping tones act as the star of Only God Was Above Us. For a band that has influenced a generation, it is interesting to hear their influences brought to the forefront of this project. Not that anything here is a copy-and-paste from the past, but the larger-than-life ambition and syncopated structure of these songs are more akin to the prog-rock of the 70s than anything Vampire Weekend has released before. The magic of these songs is that they accomplish in three minutes what it would take a King Crimson to do on a 13-minute epic. The experimentation is tight and honed while still introducing an entirely new color wheel of tones and tempos for the band to toy with.
Not only did the band incorporate styles and instruments from all over the musical world, but their use of these newfound tools was experimental. The piano-driven “Connect” wraps up with a sprawling piano solo while “Prep-School Gangsters” features a screeching string section with harsh tones and nuanced beauty. The risks taken on this album are not to be underestimated, their lofty ideas become even more otherworldly by their ability to make these elements sound like something entirely new. Therein lies the magic of Only God Was Above Us, like a musical version of Inception, Vampire Weekend hides risks within risks, creating a refreshing take on their old selves that introduces us to a new side of the band.
At times, the band allows slivers of their past to shine through. The eight-minute epic that closes out the album, “Hope”, is an uplifting tune that features Koenig’s classic crooning over gentle minimalism. The single “Gen-X Cops” harkens back to the pop-tinged rock the band created in their early days while introducing infectious guitar tones and crashing drums that bring the song to life. Moments like these give the album a healthy balance, by combining their ambitions with their roots the bands were able to craft a tracklist that nods to their day-one fans while giving newcomers something utterly refreshing to latch on to. While these nostalgic moments break up the tracklist and steer away from the consistency found on the rest of the LP, even these moments hide touches of the new Vampire Weekend that restore the narrative of Only God Was Above Us.
Only God Was Above Us is more than another Vampire Weekend album, it is an amalgamation of their storied career and experiences wrapped up in a fearless take on what their genre can become.
