Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us

There was a time when Vampire Weekend was huge, bursting out of indie circles and into the mainstream, as alt-ubiquitous as Arcade Fire or The Strokes. But the aughts were a long time ago, and the group hasn’t been releasing that much since the departure of Rostam Batmanglij back in 2016. But Ivy League pop returns in fine form with Only God Was Above Us.

And this is very much an Ivy League pop Vampire Weekend album, with literate references like “Pravda” and inspired by 20th century New York City (the title is taken from a 1988 New York Daily News headline about an air accident). “Pravda” is the most Ivy League NYC, but of course there’s also a song about “Prep-School Gangsters”. Yet, years removed from them being overexposed, Vampire Weekend’s intricate, relaxed beauty shines really well on pieces such as those two, “Gen-X Cops” (singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig really delivering his wry references), or the swaying finish “Hope”.

Way back when, you might have gone from enjoying Vampire Weekend to find them as insufferably twee & super-smart as the likes of Bright Eyes, but we’ve come to love Conor Oberst again, and we can love Vampire Weekend.