This is the new (and by new I mean month-old) single off of the upcoming Vampire Weekend album “Modern Vampires of the City.” I tried to avoid listening to it. Every time there’s an album I’m excited about, I try not to listen to any leaks or singles or new live tracks. As much as possible I listen to my music in albums, and I love a good album more than anything. So, part of me always really wants to wait and have the whole experience, while the other part of me is impatient and always wins.
I gave in and listened to “Step” today, and I love this song. I’ve played it like ten times in a row and every time I hear it, it makes me happy. It’s such a comforting song. It’s not a revolutionary Vampire Weekend song, if anything, it’s the opposite: this might be the most stereotypical Vampire Weekend song they’ve ever released. The harpsichord is there, the vaguely hip-hop drum beat, the weird non-sequiturs. But, it’s their best song.
In a lot of ways, Vampire Weekend are the Wes Anderson of music. They sound like the soundtrack to the Life Aquatic, their arrangements are as fussy as Anderson’s set design, and they’re always talking about rich people having feelings. They’re also hyperliterate pop artists. What’s great about both of them is that there’s a real sense of place, and within the pop culture constructs they’ve created they manage to make incredibly evocative art.
That is, I don’t really know what “The gloves are off/the wisdom teeth are out/Whatchu on about?/I feel it in my bones” means intellectually, but I feel it. It’s a beautiful song.
TX Creative P1 