Four listens in - yes, I've listened to the entire album four times since I downloaded it this afternoon - and I can say fairly definitely that it's very much a Vampire Weekend album. Upbeat, with semi-nonsensical lyrics made even more semi-incomprehensible by Ezra Koenig's vocal style, and a mish-mash of instruments, I say that it's just like the others in the good way. They've very much stayed true to what I love about them, a fact exemplified by me dancing along with it while I revise - it's happy, silly indie-synth-pop music, and really that's what we all want in summer (I think so anyway). I won't pretend to know anything about music in the 'official' sense, but details like the injections of choral 'ahhs' and organ chords on Hudson change what the four boys are creating from your run-of-the-mill American indie/synth music to something that I think is actually pretty special and deserving of the term 'awesome'.
In session with Zane Lowe on Radio 1 last week, the band said that they wrote the music, and then worked out how to do it live. This experimental approach, for example listen to the 'baby, baby'-s on Diane Young, an effect created with a slider bit when played live but I guess not in the studio, adds an air of the unexpected; even though 'indie-synth-pop' sums up a lot of my music collection, they still throw plenty of curveballs my way. In the same interview they revealed that they're still playing with music written pre-debut album, waiting for the time to be right for them. Not only does this explain the similarities, it also explain the differences between all the albums - it's all coming from a similar place, but being developed differently with each album release.
Sure, the album only came out today after being postponed a week, but I think it's earning its spot as the most downloaded album on Amazon (other retailers are out there etc) today. I get the feeling I'll be mentally dedicating my final exam next week to this record, I'm still not bored of it. Excuse me while I start listen #5...
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