A Review of “Only God Was Above Us” by Vampire Weekend
By Colt Leaisure
Last week, the band Vampire Weekend released their sixth album title “Only God Was Above Us”. It consists of 10 songs and has a runtime of 47 minutes, and with titles of songs that relate to older things such as “Classical” and “Gen-X Cops”. The album is in an Alt-Rock style with heavy emphasis on synthetic backing even over guitar in the songs.
All of the songs sit between the previous to them and the ones after very well, and the consistency of the style makes it feel like one 47 minute song split into segments, unlike some bands which switch tones and moods on a dime between songs. This makes the album much easier to listen to in one sitting compared to some other alt, soft, or medium rock band’s music.
The song “Classical” instantly applies its name by opening with an old-sounding song playing on what sounds like vinyl repeatedly cutting out in the first few seconds. The song talks about old things, even if they were negative, becomes “classical” with time and ends up staying around forever. The instrumentation is reflective of the message by having entire segments done on horn instruments on what sounds like an old microphone.
“Gen-X Cops” opens very quietly but ramps up to be louder before vocals come in. It covers the topic of inevitability, where the first verse says that they dodged service in the military, and end up being cops who still had to face fighting but were scared to. The instrumental presence in this song is very heavy on synthesizer and the vocals are distorted in certain sections of the song, or they sometimes have reverb. Before the vocal outro the song gives a piano solo, and the closing of the song leaves you with the message to accept your inevitabilities of life before they come to you later.
The album is made with very high production value and is good at sending universal messages for anyone who might be listening to their music. “Only God Was Above Us” is a great listen, and taking a listen wouldn’t hurt to do.