It's 2024 now, but that intrigue feels like it's long gone. Frontman Ezra Koenig is almost 40 years old, and his band's fifth album, Only God Was Above Us, features the gorgeous, erudite mid-tempo tunes of middle age. singing a song. At least in his new situation, it feels like a small revelation that Vampire Weekend hasn't been toying with fashion over time all those years ago. Back in 2008, the band worshiped Paul Simon above all else, and every time Koenig sings a winking lyric about rapper Lil Jon, he's trying to woo an uninterested afternoon crowd in high school. Don't forget that you sounded like an admin. Vampire Weekend wasn't pretending to be ready. They were pretending to be baby boomers.
Accepting this idea, “Only God Was Above Us'' becomes something of a test for Koenig and his buddies, bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Thomson. Now that the creator has grown into a top-sider, what is it about this music's lively tension? As a lyricist, Koenig treats time as an unstoppable force, often at the mercy of it. In “Gen-X Cops,” a punk-inspired song played on cello and harp, he sings about “each generation having its own apology.” As he listens to the dainty “Capricorn,” he ponders the dilemma of “searching for your own moment across the centuries.” But musically, time doesn't push or force into these songs. Tomsom's drums tend to pop in and out of the mix, allowing you to better understand Koenig's every word.
The best ones resemble punk lyrics. Regarding “classics,” Koenig points out the timeless nature of evil and how “the cruel become classical over time.” The song “Gen-X Cops” begins with a phrase that sounds like it could be from a Poison Ruin album. “Blacken the sky and sharpen your axe.” Koenig ends “Pravda” with one of his most surprising warnings I've ever heard, singing euphemistically about his second favorite subject: war.
And although each of these lines wants to be shouted, Koenig only knows how to wail, sigh, and pirouette. He's not angry, just disappointed, like your parents waiting for you at the kitchen table at 3am. Is it unfair to be disappointed in that? The basic contrast he makes here, harsh words and soft voice, is a reliable tool, but it ends up producing music that feels unable to act on its own anger. Is that what middle age is? A sense of helplessness that you can't fully understand until you're halfway through, waiting for the world to stop getting worse? Unlike other Vampire Weekend albums, this album scared me and left me physically drained.