Vampire Weekend Parody An Indie Band

Contra? Who or what exactly are Vampire Weekend opposed to or against? As it turns out, nothing; the album’s title is just a play on words, a bad joke to mock or mimic The Clash.

This group continues to sound like one of the most quintessentially “indie” bands in the business. Just as on their self-titled debut, Vampire Weekend incorporate into their sound several allegedly favorable and defining traits of indie pop’s aesthetics: Afro-pop influenced rhythms, pretentiously astute lyrics that reflect their bourgeoisie upbringing (as in rhyming “horchata” with words such as “balaclava,” “aranciata,” and “masada”), generous use of drum machines, a lead singer with an idiosyncratic voice, and simply catchy hooks.

The sum of the parts should be immensely and immediately positive to my ears, but Vampire Weekend just end up sounding like a parody of a band, pouring every one of those qualities to an absurd point, ad infinitum.

Of course, this isn’t to say that Contra contains no good tracks; it certainly does. “Horchata,” where the aforementioned pretentious lyrics came from, is catchy as all hell and an endearingly nostalgic indie pop song.

In the end though, these moments are too far and few in between, while debacles like the first single “Cousins” stick out too much for me to consider listening to Contra as an album on a regular basis.

However, Contra, as a whole, may be a step in the right direction for Vampire Weekend, which finds them toning down many of their most grating qualities from their debut; perhaps if they continue with that trajectory, their next album will be listenable as an album rather than a parodic collection of indie pop songs. —Cassie Traun, Editor