Vampire Weekend Grasp for the Courage to Let Go on New Album “Only God Was Above Us”

Vampire Weekend — comprised of trio Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, and Chris Tomson — scour personal and existential rubble for some delicate truth to hold onto on their new album Only God Was Above Us. They also kick off their summer headlining tour this month, including a stop at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 12th. Fans can also stream their sold-out concert during today’s total eclipse at Moody Amphitheater in Texas today at 10am PST via Veeps.

On its opening track “Ice Cream Piano” they descend a flight of irate cynicism before taking a tumble to the tune of frenzied drums — its groaning anthemics ending with a flurry of strings — but not before Koenig shares one of his many dire insights: “We’re all the sons and daughters / Of vampires who drained the old world’s necks.” More bleak epiphanies pile up alongside whining riffs and ebullient tones in “Classical” as the trio wrestles with the feeling of being unmoored from cruel histories.

“Who builds the future? / Do they care why?” Koenig echoes on “Capricorn” alongside the melodious twinkle of a piano. “Sifting through centuries / For moments of your own.” The moodily elastic rhythms that dribble throughout “Connect” snap the narrative back to the vagueries of personal memory, centering itself on an inability to communicate or relate with others. “Prep-School Gangsters” makes a return to the university campus for a moment of conflict tuned to a dreamily slowed-down melody that feels like a B-side from their self-titled debut.

“Blacken the sky and sharpen the axe / Forever cursed to live unrelaxed,” Koenig elucidates among the shrieking guitars that cut through the jittery “Gen-X Cops” and a dystopian nightmare never sounded so exhilerating. Lifted by the breathy calls of a choir the resounding “Mary Boone” presents the friction of past and present, of the life imagined and the reality offered, through a dazzling stroll through 1980s New York City. “Oh, my love, was it all in vain? / We always wanted money, now the money’s not the same,” coos Koenig earnestly. “In a quiet moment at the theater, I could hear the train / Deep inside the city, your memory remains.”

Towed by the gently trudging march of drums Koenig reckons with devastating defeats and pyrrhic victories on the album’s outro “Hope.” Weaving a tapestry of poignant imagisms — “The bull has gored the matador / The U.S. Army won the war” — the band spiral with arms outstretched hoping to grip something, anything, beyond the cycles of hate that has led us to where we are today. “The prophet said we’d disappear / The prophet’s gone but we’re still here,” he sings with the caution of one cursed by experience but gifted by retrospect. “The righteous rage was foolish pride.”

Only God Was Above Us arrives as a rapt fusion of the band’s first three albums: wielding all the manic melodics and off-kilter grit of Vampire Weekend and Contra, interspersed by glibly delivered revelations worthy of Modern Vampires of the City. The core difference is the merging and maturing of their many idiosyncracies into a batch of songs that once more entangle themselves with a zeitgeist worth of personal myths. All of them pointing — reverberating like Koenig’s fading urge to “let it go” — toward an elusive faith not in creeds, nations, or ideologies, but in ourselves.

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Words: Steven Ward

Only God Was Above Us is now available on all streaming platforms. See Vampire Weekend at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 12th.

Visit Vampire Weekend on their website and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.

Listen to Only God Was Above Us the new album from Vampire Weekend below!

Vampire Weekend Tour Dates
Mon Apr 08 – Austin, TX – Moody Amphitheater (Solar Eclipse)
Sat April 27 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fri May 10 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Block Party
Thu May 30 – Barcelona, Espana – Primavera Sound*
Thu Jun 06 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall
Fri Jun 07 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Sun Jun 09 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
Mon Jun 10 – San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
Wed Jun 12 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
Sat Jun 15 – Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theatre at U.C. Berkeley
Sun Jun 16 – Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theatre at U.C. Berkeley (Matinee Show)
Tue Jun 18 – Burnaby, BC – Deer Lake Park
Wed Jun 19 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Thu Jun 20 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Sat Jun 22 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater
Sun Jun 23 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater (Matinee Show)
Fri Jul 19 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Sat Jul 20 – Dillon, CO – Dillon Amphitheater
Mon Jul 22 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
Tue Jul 23 – Lincoln, NE – Pinewood Bowl Theater
Thu Jul 25 – Maryland Heights, MO – Saint Louis Music Park
Fri Jul 26 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Sat Jul 27 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Tue Jul 30 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory
Wed Jul 31 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory
Thu Aug 01 – Milwaukee, WI – BMO Pavilion
Sat Aug 03 – St. Charles, IA – Hinterland
Thu Sep 19 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
Fri Sep 20 – Cincinnati, OH – The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park
Sat Sep 21 – Indianapolis, IN – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
Mon Sep 23 – Rochester Hills, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
Tue Sep 24 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
Wed Sep 25 – Laval, QC – Place Bell
Fri Sep 27 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Sat Sep 28 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at The Mann
Mon Sep 30 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Tue Oct 01 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Wed Oct 02 – Charlottesville, VA – Ting Pavilion
Sat Oct 05 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Sun Oct 06 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden (Matinee Show)
Tue Oct 08 – Wilmington, NC – Live Oak Bank Pavilion
Wed Oct 09 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
Fri Oct 11 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater
Sat Oct 12 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
Sun Oct 13 – Asheville, NC – Rabbit Rabbit
Tue Oct 15 – St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Thu Oct 17 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
Fri Nov 29 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
Sun Dec 1 – Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo
Mon Dec 2 – Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo
Wed Dec 4 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
Fri Dec 6 – Wolverhampton, UK – The Halls
Sun Dec 8 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Tue Dec 10 – London, UK – O2 Academy Brixton
Fri Dec 13 – Paris, France – Adidas Arena
Dun Dec 15 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live

Vampire Weekend
Only God Was Above Us
Columbia Records
April 5, 2024

01 Ice Cream Piano
02 Classical
03 Capricorn
04 Connect
05 Prep-School Gangsters
06 The Surfer
07 Gen-X Cops
08 Mary Boone
09 Pravada
10 Hope