Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten!note
Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York City currently consisting of Ezra Koenig (lead vocals/guitar), Chris Tomson (drums), and Chris Baio (bass/backing vocals). Band co-founder Rostam Batmanglij (guitar/keyboard/backing vocals) has embarked on a solo career and is no longer an official member of the band.
The members of the band met as students at Columbia University and took their name from a short film of Koenig's about an invasion of Cape Cod by vampires on the weekend.
Discography:
- Vampire Weekend (2008)
- Contra (2010)
- Modern Vampires of the City (2013)
- Father of the Bride (2019)
- Only God Was Above Us (2024)
Look outside at the redtropes coming and say "Oh.":
- Album Title Drop: "Father of the bride" are the final words of Danielle Haim's first verse on "Hold You Now".
- Alliterative Name: The titular Hannah Hunt of "Hannah Hunt."
- Alliterative Title: "Hannah Hunt", "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", "Harmony Hall", "Big Blue", "Spring Snow".
- Audience Participation Song: "One (Blake's Got A New Face)" often has the audience sing the response of "Blake's Got A New Face" during the chorus.
- "Horchata" is often an audience participation song at concerts too, with directions on when to sing provided by Rostam.
- Break-Up Song: "Campus". Also a popular interpretation of "Hannah Hunt".
- Closet Key: "Diplomat's Son," which was actually a reinterpretation of a short story Ezra had written into a love story.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Ezra, especially on his Twitter.
- Darker and Edgier: Modern Vampires of the City, especially the album art.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The album art for Modern Vampires of the City, and the Lyric Video for "Step" off the same album.
- Epic Rocking: "Diplomat's Son" and "Hope".
- Everyone Went to School Together: The group began at Columbia University.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: "A-Punk", most of which sounds like gibberish even if you do know the lyrics.
- Intercourse with You: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
- Hymn to Music: One interpretation of "Step".
- Last Chorus Slowdown: "Sunflower".
- Location Song:
- "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa".
- "Step" namedrops numerous locations, from Dar El Salaam to Mechanicsburg.
- "Hannah Hunt" is set on a road trip "from Providence to Phoenix", and the protagonists wind up in Santa Barbara of all places.
- "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin".
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Diane Young."Ezra: "I had a feeling that the world is not a number called "Dying Young" (= young die) because it sounded so heavy and seriously, where "Diane Young" sounded like a name of a nice person."
- Lyric Video: An official one for "Step".
- New Sound Album: Modern Vampires of the City was more experimental than the band's previous releases.
- Non-Appearing Title: "White Sky" and others.
- Not Staying for Breakfast: The Love Interest in "Diplomat's Son".
- The Oner: In the music videos for "Oxford Comma" and "A-Punk".
- One-Woman Song: "Hannah Hunt", "Diane Young".
- One-Word Title: "Step", "Giant", “Ottoman”, "Horchata", "Cousins", "Walcott", "Bryn", "Campus", "A-Punk", "Holiday", "Run", "Unbelievers", "Hudson", "Bambina", "Sympathy", "Sunflower", "2021", "Stranger".
- "Pachelbel's Canon" Progression: "Step".
- Precision F-Strike: "Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?" from "Oxford Comma".
- "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" has one in the first chorus, though it's not overt.
- Two in the last verse of "Walcott".
- Two in "Ice Cream Piano", which earned Only God Was Above Us a Parental Advisory label.
- Punny Title: "Diane Young".
- Queer Romance: The narrator of "Diplomat's Son" has a crush on his best friend (the titular character); the two finally get high and sleep together, but the diplomat's son is gone come morning.
- Recycled Lyrics: The lyric "This feels so unnatural/Peter Gabriel, too" appears in both "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "Ottoman".
- "Giving Up the Gun" from Contra is a rerecording of "Giving Up Da Gun" by L'homme Run, Ezra's rap group from before the band was created.
- "I don't wanna live like this/But I don't wanna die" shows up in both the outtro of "Finger Back" and the chorus of "Harmony Hall".
- Religion Rant Song: "Unbelievers".I’m not excited
But should I be?
Is this the fate that half of the world has planned for me?
I know I love you
And you love the sea
What holy water contains a little drop, little drop for me? - Road Trip Plot: "Hannah Hunt".
- Self-Titled Album: Their debut.
- Shout-Out:
- In "A-Punk," the line, "One half of the ring lies here with me/But the other half lies at the bottom of the sea," is taken from the traditional folk song, "Dark-Eyed Sailor".
- "We Belong Together" name-drops "Keats and Yeats," which itself is a reference to The Smiths' "Cemetry Gates".
- Suddenly Shouting:"IF I CAN'T TRUST YOU, THEN DAMN IT, HANNAH!"
- Title Drop: “I Think Ur A Contra” from Contra.
- Title-Only Chorus: "One (Blake's Got A New Face)".
- Word Salad Lyrics: "California English", "Step", "Giant'.
