Contra’s Influences Are Many.

Vampire Weekend seem to be taking over the world  -  or at least the airwaves. Their new album Contra sees the band defining the sound of their first album while subtlety changing direction at the same time, which is quite a move.

"I think we sound more like Vampire Weekend than we did on the first record," says drummer Christopher Tomson.

Contra pulls off a series of impressive feats: It’s bustling with fresh ideas, and yet it sounds immediately familiar; it’s heavily layered but taut and kinetic; it chews ravenously through sound palettes and rhythms, and yet it’s nimble and assured; it’s still breezy, and yet it smoulders with a newfound emotional heft.

"It’s sadder than the first one, a bit more sentimental," says singer Ezra Koenig. The songs are catchy, fast, twinkling, clattering  -  the darker themes of loss, doubt and regret accumulate almost imperceptibly, but they land a powerful blow.

Ideas for this record had been bubbling since before the release of their debut. The band started recording in January 2009, only two weeks after finishing an 18-month world tour supporting their first record. They had initially planned to work in California, feeling that the new record’s spiritual home was the West Coast. The decision to work in New York, however, ultimately provided the freedom and perspective to properly realize their vision.

That March, the band toured Mexico for the first time. They recorded new material blocks away from Frida Kahlo’s house in the Coyoacan neighbourhood of Mexico City. In Monterrey they found a kindred spirit in DJ/Producer Toy Selectah, exchanging ideas and philosophies over days spent listening to records in his home studio. They returned to New York energized.

The finished product explodes any reductive notions of what constitutes Vampire Weekend’s sound and aesthetic. The varied influences here include third-wave ska, the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, Brazilian baile funk, Congolese thumb pianos, Repo Man, Sublime’s 40 Oz. to Freedom, reggaeton, bachata, Bollywood, Philip Roth, Beethoven, NYC 1983, dancehall, and the Beastie Boys’ second album, Paul’s Boutique.

All of these influences are incorporated with subtlety and sophistication, woven together into a seamless fabric of references that, heard in full, resembles nothing so much as itself. Vampire Weekend’s music and lyrics serve to both construct and deconstruct a world around them. Like the word "contra" itself, the songs are layered with meaning and invite interpretation. With this album, Vampire Weekend have staked out an alien territory  -  literate, crackling, alive  -  that’s unmistakably their own.

Here the band goes through the album ‘song-by-song’.

01. ‘Horchata’

"It opens with a harmonium drone like you might find in Bollywood music, Ezra’s voice comes in with a kind of Buddy Holly echo, he’s doubled by a Kalimba thumb piano, which is intertwined with his vocal melody  - there’s actually a few melodies going on at once -  and a subby bass drum thumping, and then suddenly you get a deep house synth and a mass of our voices: me and Ezra and some women’s’ voices as well. And they’re all soaked in this classic 80’s reverb. One of the goals’s for this record was to use vocals as a texture, as an instrument."  -  Rostam Batmanglij

02. ‘White Sky’

This song has already been a live favourite for a while. Vampire Weekend first played it at the release party for their first album in January 2008. It’s inspired by some of the same African vibes and rhythms that influenced the debut, but the finished product represents a new chapter in the band’s sound.

"This song picks up where M79 left off. Similar people, similar geography, but, I think, a more developed sense of purpose."  - Ezra Koenig

03. ‘Holiday’

For ‘Holiday’, the band took inspiration from third wave-ska bands like Operation Ivy, but also reflects their exploration of new guitar tones and rhythms.

"The inspiration for the bridge was a family member who stopped eating meat after the US invaded Iraq  -  not as a protest per se, more of a visceral reaction."  -  Ezra

04. ‘California English’

Despite being one of the shortest songs on the album, there’s a lot crammed into California English’s 2 minutes and 27 seconds. It’s lyrical density has more in common with Lil’ Wayne than Indie Rock. It has heaviness not found on the first album but also retains a breezy, almost calypso vibe.

On using autotune in this song: "It doesn’t sound like T-Pain," Ezra says. "There’s plenty of amazing music from around the world using AutoTune besides American pop."

05. ‘Taxi Cab’

It’s a ballad but the up-close vocals sit on top of huge, dubby drums and dancehall synths, while haunting, classical pianos and harpsichords move in and out. Featuring the upright bass playing of Nat Baldwin.

"I’ve always liked this Joe Strummer quote about how the topic of love has been sufficiently covered in pop music. I think he was right, so if I’m going to sing about relationships I want to use it as stepping stone to get at more elusive topics too."  - Ezra

06. ‘Run’

Filled with Miami Sound Machine-style trumpets, sliding bass and massive, gated snare drums, ‘Run’ propels the listener into the second half of the LP.

"On this song, I experimented with certain rhythms that I avoided on the first record. I like how this song alternates between heavy, Rock-like choruses and reggaeton verses."  -  Christopher Tomson

07. ‘Cousins’

Recorded in Mexico City, this song breaks new ground for the band without any radical shifts in instrumentation. With Chris Tomson’s Wipe-out-style rolls and Chris Baio’s frenetic, punky bassline, Cousins is a powerful rhythm section showcase.

"With this song, I wanted to make something that was fierce and thrashy but also smooth and elastic. I think it’s our heaviest song."  -  Chris Baio

08. ‘Giving Up The Sun’

It exists in some sort of nexus between baile funk, stadium rock and house. It’s one of the most ambitious songs on the album and would sound as equally at home on a dancefloor as in a Comp-Lit grad student’s ZuneTM. Seriously though, it’s a banger and through its mix of congas, claves and 808 claps, Vampire Weekend continues the first album’s exploration of rhythmic connections while advancing the discussion.

"On this song, we wanted to get across some big feelings, but still keep a sense of minimalism. I think we found a way to do that, musically and lyrically." - Ezra

09. ‘Diplomat’s Son’

A lyrical collaboration between Rostam and Ezra. VW’s longest song. Dancehall. Reggae. Bollywood. West African Guitar music. It’s a little prog-y. It features a percussive vocal sample from M.I.A.’s ‘Hussel’ and an interpolation of ‘Pressure Drop’ by the Toots and the Maytals.

"I started making this song in my living room. At one point my roommate walked in and turned on the kitchen faucet, you can hear it running behind the guitar solo." - Rostam

10. ‘I Think Ur A Contra’

"This is the first Vampire Weekend song with acoustic guitar. At one point I wanted to rent a Kora to play the parts I was hearing in my head for the end. Even though this song is dark it ends in a place that’s celebratory and cathartic. I used an 8-bit keyboard from the 80’s to sample my own voice to create a bed of vocals. It ended up like a dirty, shaky Kate Bush. The harmonies on this song are not like anything you’d find on our first record. I wanted the bridge to sound Americana."  -  Rostam

Contra is out now on XL/RemoteControl.

Vampire Weekend play The Tivoli 11 May 2010.

ENDS