Vampire Weekend have a pretty consistent if rather safe new album out at the moment. ‘Contra’ is an album that offers subtle variation rather than particularly strong songs.

New York band Vampire Weekend became an overnight success in 2008 with their debut album ‘Vampire Weekend’ which was strongly flavoured by African style rhythm guitar and polyrhythmic percussion. The album spawned a couple of Indie hits like ‘Mansard Roof’, ‘A-Punk’ and ‘Oxford Comma’. The follow up album ‘Contra’ was released this month and pretty much continues what ‘Vampire Weekend’ began with some minor extensions to the band’s original sound.

‘Contra’ introduces new flavours, such as electronic rhythms and some more rocking guitars but at first listen it lacks the melodic immediacy of its predecessor. If you are listening casually, the ten tracks on offer are pretty same-ish. The variations are subtle, so it took me a while to tag ‘Giving Up The Gun’ as the hands-in-the-air anthem and ‘Taxi Cab’ as the ambient track. I actually really like these two now. Also growing on me at the moment are ‘California English’ and ‘Diplomat’s Son’.

You can listen to the entire album on Vampire Weekend’s official website.

‘Horchata’, the first single off the album, is available for free download. It’s the closest track on the album to the sound that established Vampire Weekend in the first place: Gentle, intellectual pop music mixing relationship themes with obscure references (Horchata is a kind of Mexican milk shake) and a touch of African rhythms. Listen to ‘Horchata’ on the MP3 player below:

All in all, ‘Contra’ is an Easy Listening album in the best sense of the word. Are Vampire Weekend just taking five here to catch their breath and will they surprise us with their next move? Watch this space.

The full tracklisting for ‘Contra’ is:

1. Horchata
2. White Sky
3. Holiday
4. California English
5. Taxi Cab
6. Run
7. Cousins
8. Giving Up The Gun
9. Diplomat’s Son
10. I Think UR A Contra

If you like Vampire Weekend, you may also like:
Animal Collective

We say: