Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend (stock image)
Photo: Redferns via Getty Images, C Brandon. All rights reserved.
At the age of 29 and with the album “Modern Vampires Of The City” (2013), Ezra Koenig was at the peak of his creativity: swampy art rock of a white Jewish kid who, with his homage to worldbeat, was keen to experiment, rebellious, but to none time sounded excessive. At 35 (and following the departure of his congenial partner Rostam Batmanglij), Koenig returned as a kind of Ed Sheeran for hipsters.
Like Sheeran in his body of work, Koenig dresses both personal and political songs in extremely boring arrangements on “Father Of The Bride”. The anti-racism statement “Harmony Hall” comes along as a campfire singalong, “This Life” sways about the pressure of wanting to make the world a better place for a celebrity, and the jazzy “Unbearably White” seems like a morose kneel before critics who accuse Vampire Weekend of cultural appropriation. No one’s heart could be big enough to benevolently interpret these blunders as subversive.
The use of samples is even more wrong. For example, Hans Zimmer’s Melanesian choral piece “God Yu Tekem Laef Blong Mi”, which does not elegantly complement Koenig’s “Hold You Now”, but rather structures it decisively. Equally awkward is the attempt, as in “Big Blue”, to imitate Billie Eilish’s then-popular hush-hushness with mumbling. The three guest appearances by Danielle Haim are the best. It is an unexpected joy that she of all people, who with her band Haim could never live up to the hype surrounding her, stands out from this 18-song clowning.