Vampire Weekend has released a few seconds of their new album, “ Only God Was Above Us “.
Vampire Weekend announces their new album, Only God Was Above Us, in a 30-second clip where we see a cacophony of loud but catchy guitars layered over funky bass and drums. The clip shows a man jumping sideways into an old New York subway car, a recording studio, the World Trade Center and sheet music with the word ” Hope ”, among other images. “ Hope » is the title of the last song on the album.
The first two songs, “ Capricorn ” And ” Gen-X Cops », will be released on February 16, and the full album on April 5.
The trio will commemorate the release of the album (their first since 2019) by performing at Austin’s Moody Amphitheater on April 8. The concert will take place at noon and coincide with a total solar eclipse. Tickets for the concert go on sale February 13.
The group took the title of their album from a headline in the New York Daily News from 1988 spotted in a Steven Siegel photo of a New Jersey subway cemetery. This title referred to an Aloha Airlines flight during which an explosion tore the roof off the plane. Vampire Weekend uses Siegel’s photo, which shows a man standing sideways, similar to the one in the teaser video, as the album cover.
For this album, the band took inspiration from 20th century New York City and recorded it in Manhattan, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo. Ezra Koenig, who wrote the lyrics in 2019 and 2020, produced the album with his longtime collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid.
Only God Was Above Us track list:
1. “Ice Cream Piano”
2. “Classical”
3. “Capricorn”
4. “Connect”
5. “Prep-School Gangsters”
6. “The Surfer”
7. “Gen-X Cops”
8. “Mary Boone”
9. “Pravda”
10. “Hope”
