My favorite album of the previous year was “Only God was Above Us” by Vampire Weekend — to no surprise to the few (if any) who took the time to read this. My love towards the album came mostly from the instrumentation and production choices that the band and Ariel Rechtshaid, the producer, conjured. The blend of lo-and hi-fi choices balanced each other in marvelous ways in almost all the songs. The incorporation of more baroque instrumentation was a breath of fresh air for a band who dabbled in eclectic, but gleeful electronics 15 years prior. Rostam and Ariel have different approaches to ear candy.
The progression of the band’s albums can be directly tied to the upper class life cycle of the most insufferable white boys you have barely half-met.
The debut, set around a college environment, was laced whimsy with their borrowing of many African instrumental palates and titrating them to their barest western-acceptable pop essences to make a splash. These were good pop songs with the odd obscure pop culture reference that the aforementioned boy learned in college reading something “truly earth-shattering”.
I still love that first album. It has a quirkiness (pejorative) that lended it to being commercial backdrops (and TikTok trends), but had enough bite for the listener to come back.
“Contra” was simultaneously more bubbly with its great peppy synth work, but also morose due to the central subject matter — post-college breakup. The guerrilla warfare referenced in the title against the protagonist is quite clever. It took me a few years to digest the record, but I am for the better. Who knew taking time to understand and work would be beneficial.
Even if you don’t like the band based on your impression of their hits, I would recommend “Diplomat’s Son”, which is congruent with “Call Me by Your Name”.
Also, I don’t think UR a Contra.
Modern Vampires is aptly their most beloved album. It demonstrates the feeling of meaninglessness you feel in the city. It is a distillation of young adulthood without being relatable. It leads by example so you learn from its mistakes. If you can relate to the first verse of the opener, you should approach the album as though you are watching “Frances Ha”.
I can find cinema analogues to all of their records, isn’t that something?
The story behind “Young Lion” is great. Little snapshots of unity are what I currently live for.
I will skip over “Father of the Bride” because I feel it is the “Babylon” of the catalogue (long, I have yet to experience both, but I assume they aren’t as bad as people make them out to be).
In the present, we are left with a bunch of 40 year olds. They are successful, have side ventures, and are neither cool nor hip. What are their songs about: feeling disconnected, character studies and lessons they have learned over their years in the business (life).
In “Ice Cream Piano” is an unresolvable conflict between two. It is an early showcase of the emphasis of detachment in the lyrics and the balanced muddling of distortion and baroque pop.
Songs like “Connect”, “Capricorn” and “Pravda” follow this blueprint and expand upon it in novel ways. The album is filled with great songs that stabilize cohesion and experimentation that only passionate artists can.
The closer, “Hope” is probably the most overt attempt at dealing with the disconnect.
Ezra talks about the inevitable loss against the machine. The stage is set, you have no control. Might as well live in this lack of power, rather than wallow in the everyday suppression.
I abhor this sentiment.
Maybe it is the last drops of youth in me, but I truly do bear hatred towards acceptance under oppression. I see it all around me, the defeat. I am not a quitter. The fight against (wanna-be) despots is fought through collective action. Their clampdowns in media spread acceptance.
Pacification is a method that I am certain Sun Tzu is fawning over from hell.
I come from a place of privilege, things to lose, yet I will never comply with the pressures. I deeply respect the punks, the queers, the true trailblazers of our society and try to aid their collective action with my time and capital. I try to relish in art, try to understand the experiences on my kin. I try to be human and fathom others.
But this is not about me. The only thing I can “hope” is that you are not squashed in the lack of belief in the people. I relish in saying that each other is all we’ve got.
Higher powers slowly decaying the quality of the lowly person is harrowing, certainly. Feeling down about this incredibly normal. Feeling is good. Indifference is the enemy. As people come to accept the powers instead of protesting, boycotting and showing up, they win. From the most vulnerable to the richest, society only functions if we have the conscience to group together.
I crave for a world that determinism is not accepted. Fate is putting on horse blinders for the masses. Try, risk, fail — give it your all and do not blame yourself if not successful. If they can wear you down, they win. I know it is hard.
Just take it one day at a time and know that I love you.