In 2008 Vampire Weekend came on the scene like a supernova with their eponymous debut album.   Their mix of upbeat, literate indie rock with Afro-Caribbean sounds and rhythms was an inspired rip-of-a-page by the Colombia-kids from the Paul Simon/Talking Heads songbook.  And the album was a huge hit amongst the cognoscenti and beyond, with songs A-Punk, Oxford Comma, Bryn, Walcott and Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (in particular) lighting up dorms across the lands.

The band’s second album Contra followed in early 2010. Despite an arguable increase in quality, Contra was predictably panned by some of the same critics who had slobbered all over the debut album.  Thankfully, other critics and the band’s fan legion recognized the merit of the album and the ongoing value of the band. And their popularity continued unabated.  On Diplomat’s Son and elsewhere on that album, the band made more clear that reggae was a specific influence. Album finisher I Think Ur a Contra was the particular track that grabbed our attention.  With its Afro-guitar shimmer, Jamaican Nyabhingi-esque drumming and added strings, the song painted a more complex (albeit sparser) musical picture than we had heard on the first album.  And lyricist Ezra Koenig let down his lyrical guard more on the song and confessed a failed relationship (amongst other things).  The song was a clear highlight and a harbinger of things to come.

Fast forward to May 14th when Vampire Weekend will release its third album of (what the band has dubbed) a trilogy of albums, Modern Vampires of the City.  You can go over to iTunes and stream the new album now.  We’ve only had a quick couple of listens (and will have a full review soon-come), but you immediately grasp the evolution, complexity and concision embedded in the album’s tracks.  Just like they ended Contra, the album kicks off with that always-reliable Nyabhingi drumming on Unknown Bicycle.  But what’s new here and elsewhere on the album (Young Lion) are previously unheard vocal flourishes and harmonies to go with more-dynamic production values that allow the songs to better breath and impress.  Other early track favorites are Step (with its harpsichord and spareness), Hannah Hunt (with its melancholy mien and piano and lyric references to our own Santa Barbara and Hannah), Finger Back (with it punk rock gestalt), Everlasting Arms and Ya Hey (its somewhat-naive lyric trumped by this closing couplet:  “My soul swooned as I faintly heard the sound, of you spinning “Israelites” into “19th Nervous Breakdown””).

As we said, go on over to iTunes and stream/pre-order the new album now.  You can also go below to catch the Ya Hey and Step lyric videos.