4 Out Of 5 Stars
"Modern Vampires of The City" is what happens when creatures that can never die begin to contemplate the future. Vampire Weekend's third album is a mostly muted affair, whispering maturity from the first gospel-ish harmonies and finger poked piano of "Obvious Bicycle." Lead singer Ezra Koenig has put aside most of his quirkiness to concentrate on meaningful lyrical statements. "Girl, you and I will die nonbelievers...is this the fate that half of the world has planned for me?" Granted, he's singing to a girl who is an outsider along with him, but instead of making it a joke (ala "Cousins" on "Contra"), he's more concerned about mortality.This newfound sense of seriousness will probably put off some of the indie-heads who can't stomach when their favorite band "sells out" ("Modern Vampires" debuted at number one on Billboard) or takes a significant step away from their early sound. While there are a few things I miss, like some louder guitar for one, I don't miss the preciousness of the first album. This is a band that no longer squeals "college band" at every turn of phrase or overtly and obvious attention grabbing musical stunt. The Vampire Weekend of the debut would probably not be telling you "There's a headstone right in front of you" ("Don't Lie"), for example.
There are still a few plays for the radio. "Diane Young" clips along at a kinetic pace and even throws in some auto-tune to mock anyone who wants to call "Modern Vampires" 'serious music,' all the while playing pun games with "Diane Young" and 'dying young.' It also contains one of the weirder lyrical choices I've heard on a record this year, Koenig tells Diane she's got "the luck of a Kennedy." Yes, they want to be taken seriously with "Modern Vampires Of The City" taking on life, death, religion and the big bad specter of growing up, but Vampire Weekend has that cake and their quirky, too.
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