Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsVampire Weekend's Deceptively Seductive Music
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2019
The eagerly awaited followup to 2013's "Modern Vampires of the City" is definitely not a race against time. Down an integral group member, Rostom Batmanglij, who jumped ship in 2016, he makes his presence known and felt on two tracks. There's something to be gleaned from listening to this music. The band has this wonderful swell of melody to luxuriate in and they still know how to surprise in the middle of a song with a lot of tempo and instrumental changes. Variety (rock, folk, classical) is the key and the production has punch throughout. Of course, Ezra Koenig's voice and lyrics can't be forgotten as he ponders a world in collapse and mortality offset with some romanticism.
"This Life", "Flower Moon" and "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin" are songs we need to hear today. Then, there's "We Belong Together" and "Hold You Now" as the songs I want to hear. In a record that lasts 58 minutes, it doesn't peter out at all.
