Vampire Weekend have a bit of a reputation to live up to. The sophomore effort from one of the most hotly-tipped bands of 2008 and one of the most successful bands of 2009 always has a bit of a reputation to live up to. Do they do it? Probably. Don’t get me wrong, Contra is an excellent album, but it’s not one you Afro-beat-loving indie kids should be blowing your collective loads over.
Opening track and incidentally, the album’s second single, “Horchata” is a slow starter; couple that with Ezra Koeing’s fragile vocals and you start to get the impression that this is the sound of a band that are living in the shadow of the mammoth popularity of their self-titled debut. Don’t let that fool you though, because elsewhere on the album the erratic and over-processed (which is a good thing, by the way) vocals of “California English”, the raucious drums on “Giving Up the Gun”, and the subtle crescendos of “I think ur a Contra” all hint at a band growing in confidence.
The litmus test for the album was debut single “Cousins”, which on its own might have been hailed as brilliant. But it’s the fact that it seems to ride somewhat on the coat tails of “A-Punk”‘s success that loses it a few of those all-important originality points, and with an album like this, that’s what counts. It kind-of sums up the album as a whole really. Vampire Weekend have played a bit of a safe hand with Contra – following the tried and tested formula that bought them success with their debut. But there’s a few gems on the album that suggest that there’s a lot more from Vampire Weekend to come. And it can only get better, right?
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