Vampire Weekend - Contra (2010, XL)

Vampire Weekend - Contra
(2010, XL)

This might be one of the most challenging albums to write. With a well received debut that got praised in most alternative press living up to expectations might be a bit too much for a relatively young band like Vampire Weekend. Founded in 2006 and releasing their self titled debut in 2008 based on popularity mostly created by blogs. It was sure that this years Contra was going to get a lot of coverage online. Fans of their first record can now breathe freely again, they lived up to the hype. As to be heard on the bands earlier material Vampire Weekend take influences from African popular music and many other genres. This wide list of influences is expanded even more on Contra with VW also taking some hints from the eighties, synth pop, Caribbean rythms and more oddities. With this big flow of different influences you can hear the band sometimes struggling to make Contra a cohesive whole. In the opening track Horchata this is best displayed by the somewhat strange combination of elements presented in that song. After that little rough start VW manages to stay on track and create a interesting and fun record that doesn’t show any signs of being a difficult second album. They sound a lot fuller thanks to all the little bits that are added in. Comparing it to their fabulous debut shows Contra as the more grown-up version of the childhood dreams presented on the self titled. They replaced some of the spontaneous energy for a more eclectic sound that will sure gain them many new fans.