Vampire Weekend Returns with the Complex, Comforting, Only God Was Above Us

Review by Rob Hinkal

Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us - Vinyl LP Record (Black)

After a nearly five-year absence following the release of 2019’s Grammy-award-winning Father of the Bride, Vampire Weekend is back with Only God Was Above Us, an impressive, bombastic entry into the group’s musical catalog. Whereas Father of the Bride was characterized by a feeling of abounding warmth and radiance, Only God Above Us sees the NYC trio utilizing a more fragmented, maximalist sound throughout the record’s 47 minutes. Their most challenging release yet, OGWAU stands out amongst Vampire Weekend’s catalog in terms of its lyrical and musical complexity. Feeling all at once reflective and iconoclastic, it brings to mind Bon Iver’s 2016 release, 22, a Million, which also embraced a more digital, electronic, and noticeably colder sound compared to the Indie darling’s previous releases. All of this is to say that Vampire Weekend swings for the fences with this one, and, thankfully, knocks it out of the park. Melding together the digital, industrial-esque aspects of the production of the record with their familiar, tried and true musical stylings and hallmarks, OGWAU delivers a rich musical landscape rife with complex imagery and emotion, creating one of the group’s most fulfilling releases yet. Among the album’s standouts are the euphoric Mary Boone, the restrained, powerful final track Hope, and Prep-School Gangsters, which feels like a song straight off of their self-titled debut. A refreshing change of pace and endlessly fascinating entry in the band’s discography, Only God Was Above Us is, without a doubt, one of the best albums of 2024 so far.