Vampire Weekend
Contra
XL Recordings
Score: 8.5/10
In 2001, the Strokes came out with Is This It? and sort of established the ever-hastening hype-backlash cycle that's come to fruition in the Internet age. The most notable recent victim of this phenomenon was Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut, which dropped in 2007. By the time of its actual physical release date, it was way cooler to feel disenfranchised by their upper-class, Ivy League Afro-pop than it was to enjoy it even if (especially if?) you hadn't even heard it. This week the band dropped their follow-up, Contra, an album that was talked about with the same kind of love/hate dynamic before a single note was heard, mostly spurred by the enigmatic cover image featuring a vacant-eyed blonde girl in a polo and little else.
The best cover art says something intangible about the album it advertises. When asked about the image, lead Vampire Ezra Koenig said "The picture is from 1983, but the last album cover was from 2006, and they kind of look like they both inhabit the same world." It's an accurate statement from an artistic perspective, as they are both shot with the same sort of grainy honesty, but the more important connection to me is how, as the picture is from the '80s but looks like it could have been shot for a Polo add yesterday, Contra itself was created this year, but sounds like it was influenced by some '80s conflict, most obviously with its album title, but also in references scattered throughout the ten songs.
Songs like the closing trio of "Giving Up the Gun", "Diplomat's Son", and "I Think Ur a Contra" express it unambiguously in their titles, but also in their lyrics. "Diplomat's Son" is set in 1981 and seems to be about the titular son escaping from something (Contras, maybe?) while leaving someone behind, "To offer it to you would be cruel," the son justifies, "When all I want to do is use you." It seems wholly appropriate that the track lightly samples M.I.A., who comes from a country where such an escapade seems as likely now as it would have 29 years ago.
Musically, Contra shows Vampire Weekend growing with and from their debut album's barefaced dichotomy between traditional West African music and American indie. It's a smart move; that particular brand of influences exploded in 2009, with groups like Fool's Gold, Holiday Shores, Thee Fair Ohs and a slew of others running with that sound about as far as it could logically go. Keyboardist Rostam Batmangli's time with Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles in Discovery is apparent here, especially in the bloorping synths that find their way into the mix on tracks like "Run", "White Sky" and "Horchata".
Of course, it's not as though Contra is unrecognizable from Vampire Weekend, the band has simply added more tools to their box. They don't whack the old sound over the head with these new tools, they simply tinker and see how the new and the old work best together. There still will be all those references to Upper West Side New York high-life, the band makes sure of it from the opening couplet: "In December drinking Horchata/ I look psychotic in a balaclava." Not to mention one of the first singles, "Cousins" is essentially "Mansard Roof" played in double-time, or that "Holiday" is basically "Campus" with a little distortion thrown into the mix.
What makes Contra impressive is how the band plays the new and the old just right. The percussive abilities of Chris Tomson are again a highlight throughout the album, but aren't featured as blatantly as on the debut; the African rhythms crop up in less places than on the debut, used tastefully and intelligently. By incorporating garage-rock tones and Discovery's bloorps and playful song structures, Contra could threaten to be too busy, but just as the band did a lot with just a few elements on their debut album, they just as deftly can make a lot of elements sound open or even minimalist, like on "Taxi Cab".
It's not a perfect record, of course. "Giving Up the Gun" attempts to use the changing of sonic elements to obscure the fact that it's basically the same verse over and over, "California English"'s attempts at surf-rock don't quite pack the intended punch, and the hooks won't be stuck instantly in your head like those on the debut, but the songcraft on Contra is uniformly excellent. While there aren't any moments that knock you over the head, especially now that the Vampire Weekend template has become so ubiquitous, the way the band has ripened their sound is undeniably enjoyable. They're unafraid and not backing off, just like the expression of their cover girl.
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