Having ended a half decade of anticipation with last week’s album announcement, Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio and Chris Tomson p/k/a Vampire Weekend now fill that void with “Capricorn” and “Gen-X Cops,” a double portion of first tastes of the anxiously awaited Only God Was Above Us, available April 5 via Columbia Records. Pre-order is available now here. Simultaneously, the band has confirmed a full scale North American headline tour. The 39-date trek will stop in Cincinnati, OH for a performance at The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park on Friday, September 20 with special guest Cults.
The newly released pair of advance tracks showcase distinctly different aspects of Only God Was Above Us, while feeling very much parts of the same whole. “Capricorn,” written by Ezra Koenig and produced by Ariel Rechtstaid and Koenig, begins on a deceptively subdued note, its honeyed melodies and arpeggiated keys launching into a transcendent chorus featuring a maelstrom of distorted guitars and vibrant drum fills. “Gen-X Cops,” co-written by Koenig and Chris Tomson, and produced by Rechtstaid, Koenig and Tomson, kicks off with a frantic guitar figure befitting a title lifted from a 1990s Hong Kong action movie, and rides a jaunty beat to an anthemic refrain of “Each generation makes its own apology.”
Each of the new tunes is accompanied by a new video built around footage of New York circa 1988 by Only God Was Above Us album art photographer Steven Siegel. Directed by longtime Vampire Weekend creative director Nick Harwood, “Capricorn” is a visual journey to late ‘80s New York City that showcases the alluring yet grimy era of the city— before breaking to modern day Vampire Weekend. "Gen-X Cops," directed by Drew Pearce (The Fall Guy, Hotel Artemis, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Iron Man 3), takes a decidedly different route to authenticity, utilizing the exact film-stocks Siegel used in 1988, and tracking down the only authentic 1970s New York subway car on the west coast. Pearce and DP Doug Emmett then meticulously researched the actual light patterns of 1980s subway tunnels in order to build a rig that would emulate them as well as shooting “Gen-X Cops” on 8mm and 16mm cameras to ensure maximum precision.
Only God Was Above Us will be available April 5 via Columbia Records and will be available digitally, and physically on CD, standard black vinyl, limited edition clear vinyl on the band’s webstore, and with an alternate album cover available exclusively at Independent retailers. Pre-order here.
