A playful Afro-Caribbean breeze flows through Vampire Weekend’s sophomore album, Contra. Opposing bitter harsh east coast winters, warming and uplifting the soul with its opener (and fiercest) Horchata, the tracks are crisp, carefree, but somehow complicated. The boys from Columbia University still make room for toffee-nosed hallooing, complete with clever lyrical rhyming, and Ezra Koenig’s adroit falsettos are spit polished on this album. The political resonance of the record and the contrast made to The Clash’s Sandinista! album might seem blatantly obvious to a few, but apparently the 80s video game Contra holds more meaning to the frontman of the four. From that inspiration births songs like Giving Up the Gun with its trophy message, Taxi Cab with its use of strings to mimic spinning tires, and Run with its throwback akin to Atari. The album boasts a plateau of happy, but finally winds down to the last track I Think Ur A Contra. And although the chief mishap of the album is peaking too early with a Mexican beverage, the lulls are tolerable due to the plethora of percussion and electronic elements. Throw in hand drums, rebolos, marimbas, strings, and a vocoder, and most people would be thoroughly entertained. I was. It’s a Holiday from the humdrum of the workweek and a skipping parade of warm fuzzies. If you’re all for some happy happy joy joy in your life right now, Contra is for you. It’ll get you dancing like no one is looking, toe tapping or booking an impulsive trip to an island destination. Koenig wraps it up best, “Here comes the feeling you thought you’d forgotten.”
Key Tracks: Horchata, I Think Your A Contra, Holiday, California English
Moods: Bright, Joyous, Springlike, Good-Natured, Carefree
Buy: Contra
related
- Contra Cover Girl Sues Vampire Weekend for $2 Million
- Behold, New Vampire Weekend Video!
- Vampire Weekend @ Le National – 10.06.09
