Vampire Weekend, Gen-X Cops | Song Review 🎵

Captivating songwriting and high-flying music makes “Gen-X Cops,” the second single from Only God Was Above Us, the fifth LP from Vampire Weekend, electrifying.

“The curtain drops, a gang of Gen X cops assembles / Trembling before our human nature.” “Gen-X Cops” marks the second of two singles released simultaneously in advance of Only God Was Above Us, the fifth studio album by Grammy-winning alternative band, Vampire Weekend.  Only God Was Above Us arrives five years after Father of the Bride, one of the best albums by the collective to date. “Gen-X Cops” was written by front man, Ezra Koenig and Chris Tomson.  Koenig and Tomson produces the electrifying track alongside Ariel Rechtshaid. 

The songwriting is a big selling point on “Gen-X Cops.” The verses feature unique, thought-provoking lyrics, something that Koenig and Vampire Weekend have excelled at throughout their career.  In the second verse, Koenig explicitly mentions the Gen-X cops that grace the title (“The curtain drops, a gang of Gen X cops assembles / Trembling before our human nature”).  However, the third verse may be the most intriguing: “Welcome back, my oldest friend / Are you cursed to depart again? / Your ways and means, eternally obscene / And always looking for obscenity and hatred.” Woo! And of course, there’s the chorus, which features the banger lyric of all lyrics: “Each generation makes its own apology.” Besides the epic songwriting, the music and the vocals shine.  The guitars are distorted, noisy, and raucous in the introduction, setting the tone for “Gen-X Cops.” Things settle in when Koenig sings, with the harp, keys, and more refined sounds replacing the jagged, uncouth guitar (it does return, however, in all its intense glory). Koenig is refined vocally throughout, never overreaching in his performance.  The tempo is quick, the groove driving, and the energy elevated on “Gen-X Cops” and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

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]