AGCS’ TOP TEN ALBUMS OF THE YEAR: NUMBER SEVEN

Vampire Weekend - Contra

Let’s face it - “Contra” didn’t capture the public’s imagination in quite the same way Vampire Weekend’s self-titled début did. Their headline performance at Latitude festival, a good seven months after the release of their sophomore album, was notable for the crowds complete indifference to the likes of White Sky and six-minute, M.I.A. sampling, time signature-changing album highlight Diplomat’s Son. And while a field full of people waiting to hear A-Punk may not be the best indicator of “Contra”’s success or failure, the band were definitely faced with an uphill struggle with this record. The simple fact is, Vampire Weekend were no longer new.

What do bands do when they can no longer rely on novelty? In many cases they simply try to replicate their first album, with almost always disastrous results. But a much smaller number, faced with the loss of that initial excitement, decide that if they can no longer claim to be new then they can at least lay claim to being better. 

And “Contra” is, without a doubt, a case of the latter in action. The band didn’t attempt to phone-in more of their first album’s “West Side Soweto”, instead concentrating their efforts on a record which outstripped their debut at every turn. Don’t get me wrong, the band underwent no startling reinvention on “Contra”; they just got better.

While most bands have a tendency to front-load their records with “the hits”, “Contra” is an album where every song improves on the last. Horchata and White Sky are good songs, no doubt, but it’s when Holiday’s keyboard line vamps into view that the album really get’s going. From there on in the record is a succession of glorious moments, whether it’s the stuttering percussion of Taxi Cab, the joyful escapism of Run, or the ridiculous half-speed breakdown in the aforementioned Diplomat’s Son.

Ending the album is I Think Ur A Contra, Vampire Weekend’s best song to date and without a doubt one of the best songs I’ve heard this year. Ezra’s softly sung vocal genuinely sends a shiver down my spine, uttered with devastating vulnerability over soaring strings and finger-picked acoustic guitar. I never thought I’d say this about the band who wrote lyrics about comma’s and architecture, but it’s a moment of stunning beauty, and a perfect end to an album which outclassed it’s predecessor in every possible way. For that reason Vampire Weekend are well deserving of a place in our albums of the year.

Jed. x