Vampire Weekend have shared their latest single ‘Classical’, the third offering from their upcoming album ‘Only God Was Above Us‘.
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Written by frontman Ezra Koenig, produced by Ariel Rechtshaid (Haim, Sky Ferreira) and Koenig and featuring an orchestral arrangement by Will Canzoneri, Koenig and Rechtshaid, the track highlights a whimsical beat against lyrics such as: “I know that walls fall, shacks shake / Bridges burn and bodies break / It’s clear something’s gonna change,” asking the question “And when it does, which classical remains?”
Directed by Vampire Weekend’s longtime creative director Nick Harwood, the track’s accompanying music video sees the band alongside Rechtshaid, Ray Suen and their drum tech Josh Goldsmith on the guitar playing the song against a green screen with fresco paintings, churches and clocks behind them.
‘Classical’ follows the two previously released singles ‘Capricorn’ and ‘Gen-X Cops’. All three tracks will be featured on the band’s fifth LP ‘Only God Was Above Us‘, which is set for release on April 5 via Columbia. You can pre-order/pre-save it here.
The LP their first album in five years, which follows on from 2019’s ‘Father Of The Bride’. In a four-star review of ‘Father Of The Bride‘, NME shared: “Depending on your mood, there’ll be songs you’d happily lop off for a more streamlined listen, but by and large, all of these songs make the patchwork much more vibrant. If there’s another wait this long for album five, we trust that they’ll make use of the time.”
In other news, the band recently launched a new podcast called ‘Vampire Campfire’.
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A statement about the new podcast series says it will be “released semi-regularly for the foreseeable future” and fans who watch will be “invited behind the scenes into a longstanding and formerly private Vampire Weekend ritual: the frequent campfire chats where Baio, CT and Koenig convene to discuss and brainstorm all things Vampire Weekend – and so much more.”
Fans have also been told that there will be Vampire Weekend ‘Easter Eggs’ on the podcast and they will be given “advance insights” into the band’s new album.’
Elsewhere, they also recently announced a huge 2024 North American tour kicking off in April.