Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend is an American indie pop band formed in New York City in 2006 by Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Chris Tomson, and Rostam Batmanglij. Graduating from Columbia University in 2006, early demos were given away to friends and fans soon had music blogs talking about a new form of worldly melodic indie pop emanating from New York in the shape of Vampire Weekend. Signing to XL Recordings, the band defined their sound as Upper West Side Soweto and released their debut album Vampire Weekend (2008) to critical acclaim. Buoyed by the chirpy, summer anthems "A-Punk," "Oxford Comma," and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," their debut was soon recognized as one of the biggest albums of the year. The shimmering melodies continued on second album Contra (2010), which shot straight to the top of the US charts in its first week of release. Led by the single "Cousins," it was partly recorded in Mexico City, contains several references to Joe Strummer, and samples M.I.A.. Their third studio album Modern Vampires of the City arrived in 2013 and marked a shift in style for the band as they further incorporated the use of acoustic guitar, piano, and organ sounds. Following the end of the Modern Vampires tour in 2014, Vampire Weekend had a brief hiatus before multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij parted ways from the band in 2016. Six years on from their last studio effort, the group released their fourth LP and major-label debut, Father of the Bride, in 2019. Preceded by the double single "Harmony Hall" / "2021," the album topped the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. It was followed by their fifth outing Only God Was Above Us, a project heavily inspired by raga music that arrived in 2024 and yielded the singles "Capricorn" / "Gen-X Cops."