SNV: Vampire Weekend Returns!

Welcome to Saturday Night Video.

Five years ago a preppy little band from the northern borders of Manhattan (Columbia University) burst onto the indie scene wearing v-neck sweaters and playing alternative rock with a Graceland-esque overlay of AfroPop and no one quite knew what to make of it. They were college-aged white kids and their band was called Vampire Weekend, which most people just assumed was a drug reference (staying indoors, keeping the blinds closed Friday night through Monday morning).

The music was light and airy, hyper-literate and filled with references that you either got or you didn’t (The song M79, for example, so named for that crosstown bus through central Park on 79th street, if you board it eastbound at just the right time of evening, the sunset over the park is just magnificent.) If you were at any New York City parties or bars that year, there’s a very good chance that ‘Oxford Comma’ was blaring from the speakers and civilians were like “What is this music?” The cool kids would be popping at the seams to tell them.

Their first record went on to sell half a million copies at the dawn of the Pandora / Spotify Era (in which “records” stopped selling any copies) and so they made another one. And then they went away for three years to make this new album, Modern Vampires of the City, which comes out on Tuesday.  Also, they’re playing Saturday Night Live tonight at 11:30 ET, I think they lead with one of these three tracks below.

First, the official lyrics videos for a few tracks followed by a New York Times profile and a link to get the album. Enjoy!

Read Also:

Setting Their Sights on Wider Vistas (New York Times)

Hit Amazon for album details:

Modern Vampires of the City