Only God Was Above Us [2xLP]

Description

On their masterfully knotty fifth album, Vampire Weekend go on a self-mythological journey into old sounds, old haunts, and old cities to find something new within.

Ezra KoenigbeginsOnly God Was Above Usspeaking, it seems, to just one person. Against a blur of amplifier hum and a tentative guitar strum, he sounds thin and reedy, almost petulant, a little bit doomy. F*** the world, Koenig sings softly, You said it quiet/No one could hear you/No one but me.

This hushed distortion opensVampire Weekends fifth album, where Koenig and his bandmates, ChrisesBaioandTomson, gaze longingly at the past to find more questions than answers. A chief concern is history, and where to fit within it, but, ultimately, Vampire Weekend itself is the focus ofOnly God Was Above Us. It is the bands most overtly self-referential release, a collage of signature sounds and motifs dotted with allusions. It feels new and comfortable, regularly elegant and charming, calm and comforting, and, at times, foreboding. And just a bit worried.

Pitchfork

Two BLACK VINYL LPs, in a gatefold jacket, printed inner sleeves, and a 24x 36 folded poster.