KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
On first impressions the music of Vampire Weekend doesn't quite match their devilishly wicked band name.
In fact, it's remarkable how twee this debut from the New York quartet is. But don't be put off. Songs like Oxford Comma, which shimmies and shakes like Nancy Sinatra's backing band, and A-Punk, a high-jinks ska number, both come across flaky at first but ultimately they are irresistable. And that's the tone for the rest of this clever little album.
The uppity, gleaming guitar driven tunes of main man Ezra Koenig are a constant (and Campus is a nod to the deadbeat guitar of fellow New Yorkers the Strokes).
But what makes things most interesting are the bizarre and ingenious array of other sounds, and this has the strange effect of making Vampire Weekend a musically witty affair.
It's not that they use strange instruments, it's just that they make very uncool sounds sound cool. On M79 there's a string section that harks you back to a ballroom in Pride and Prejudice, Walcott has a keyboard like a sick variation on Chopsticks, and Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa wouldn't sound out of place on Graceland.
A rollicking good album.
Label: XL/The Label
Verdict: Mouth-watering debut from clever clogs New York quartet
