iTunes has given us the feeling of a leaked album yet again by streaming the new Vampire Weekend album, Modern Vampires of the City, a week before release.  Already the internet is abuzz about this possibly being the album of the year.  A premature statement indeed, since we’re not even halfway through the year, but it is a great album nonetheless. 

In an interview with Bob Boilen, Ezra and Rostam explain that songs on Modern Vampires of the City were written differently than the songs on the previous two albums.  They say that this album was treated much more as a recording project because they focused on tracking the beats and chord progressions on their laptops and then working through the lyrics.  Then, after the song was recorded, they’d have to figure out how to play it.  Almost as if they were their own cover band. 

Boilen also talks a lot about how he feels the album is more bleak then the previous two.  With lines like “Spare your face the razor because no one’s gonna spare the time for you” and “the world is a cold place to be” it certainly seems like they’ve forsaken their previous cheery uplifting tunes.  The tempos seemed to have slowed down a bit in this album as well, which probably had an effect on Boilen’s feeling that the album was bleak.  

I feel that it is the opposite of bleak.  I think that key is in the lyrics of this project (and it is  the best display of lyricism yet from Vampire Weekend).  In my opinion, the album is uplifting in that it celebrates one’s ability to make life excellent regardless of governments and society.  

Life and death are mentioned in almost every song and even though there are lines questioning society and if its worth attempting a joyful life because the world is so hard, there is a confidence behind it which says you can be happy by listening to your conscience and by being an individual.  

This confidence is shown in so many parts of this album. On the song, “Hannah Hunt”, you can see it in the line “though we live on the U.S. dollar, you and me, we got our own sense of time”.  On “Ya Hey” you see it in the chorus “Through the fire, Through the flames / You won’t even say your name / You say ‘I am that I am’ / Who could ever live that way?” and in the verse: “In the dark of this place there’s the glow of your face”.  

Lines like these pop up all over the place.  Sure you could focus on the bleak lines and song titles (“Diane Young” sounds like “dying young” when Ezra sings it) but the true meaning of this album is in the positive lines of individuality and taking control of your own life.  

That’s how this album came through to me.  Its definitely the most lyrically focused effort from Vampire Weekend so far.  The music is spot on as always.  There are more effects on the vocals than the previous two albums but they are not overdone and are done at the right times.  

This is an album I will be adding to my music collection upon release next week.  Still way too early for me to call it the album of the year but certianly one of the best I’ve heard so far.