Vampire Weekend, Classical | Song Review 🎵

Vampire Weekend ‘knocks it out of the park’ with the ambitious “Classical,” the third single from their fifth LP, Only God Was Above Us.

“Untrue, unkind, and unnatural / How the cruel, with time, becomes classical.” Mic-drop moment, Ezra Koenig.  Koenig’s Grammy-winning collective, Vampire Weekend, return in 2024 with their fifth studio album, Only God Was Above Us (arrives April 5).  The song at hand, “Classical”, marks the third advance single from the LP following fine singles in “Capricorn” and “Gen-X Cops”.  The ambitious, well-rounded four-minute-plush record was written by Koenig.  He produced it alongside Ariel Rechtshaid with top-notch results.

The music on “Classical” is nothing short of brilliant. It is groovy from the onset. Furthermore, “Classical” boasts a unique sound palette that is on brand for Vampire Weekend.  The instrumentation includes guitars, string bass, piano, organ, synthesizer, bass, wailing tenor saxophone, and programming. Beyond the dazzling instrumental, we get sweet lead vocals by Ezra Koenig – the standard! The verses feature a beautiful, tuneful melody, as well as distinct, thought provoking lyrics. “In times of war, the educated class knew what to do,” Koenig sings in the first verse, adding, “In times of peace, their pupils couldn’t meet your baby blues.” In the second, he mentions “A staircase up to nothingness inside your DNA / Well, that’s a bleak sunrise.” Indeed.  In addition to the verses,  the pre-chorus (excerpted at the top) and the chorus is tuneful and memorable as well (“It’s clear something’s gonna change / And when it does, which classical remains?”). As ambitious as “Classical” is, the form is straightforward – verse, pre-chorus, chorus, instrumental interlude/break. After the second verse, the instrumental break is extended, prior to the fantastic pre-chorus and chorus returning. “Classical” marks an elite alternative song from Ezra Koenig and company – the bomb dot com!

Vampire Weekend // Only God Was Above Us // Columbia // 4.5.24

[📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Columbia; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Królestwo Nauki, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pete Linforth, Tumisu from Pixabay]