#20. Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall
Vampire Weekend are no strangers to the countdown, with "Diane Young" landing at #11 in the 2013 edition. The only reason they haven't had a song in since then, is because they've been on hiatus and have been continually teasing a return. How disappointing that their return would come with an album that is essentially an Ezra Koenig solo project, similar to what Arctic Monkeys singer singer Alex Turner did with 2018's "Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino". Actually, both albums follow a fairly similar plane: 5 year hiatus, lots of guest artists, huge departure from previous recordings, loose concept, not much substance. Every time I sat down to listen to "Father of the Bride" I had to turn it off after 4 or 5 songs. It's utterly dull and meandering, which of course means that it was met with widespread critical acclaim and peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 and at the top of the Billboard Rock charts, despite containing very little actual rock.
However, there is the matter of the first single released from the long postponed and pined for record, titled "Harmony Hall". The opening guitar immediately perks your ears, and the lyrics are just poignant enough to keep you guessing. In other words, it's the same good recipe that VW has used for years. Koenig's quirky lyrics always have a way of getting stuck in your head and permeating your days. The video for the song has Koenig making pancakes, which he eventually feeds to Jonah Hill. Ariel Rechtshaid is in the video, which is pretty cool. He's a mega producer now, scoring rave accolades for his work with the band, but he'll always be The Hippos for me. The downside for the video, the song and everything else is that VW base most of their work on the
pretense that they are really frickin' clever and that people will just
eat that up. It works, I guess. It's a catchy song, and I'm sure that if the band puts out another record it'll have a few ditties on it as well. Music is confusing, I know.
Favorite Line: "Anger wants a voice, voices want to sing. Singers harmonize 'til they can't hear anything. I thought that I was free from all that questioning, but every time a problem ends, another one begins."
Title: Harmony Hall
Artist: Vampire Weekend
Album: Father of the Bride
Previous #20s
2018: Ghost - Dance Macabre
2017: Liam Gallagher - Wall of Glass
2016: Safemode - Hold On
2015: Florence and the Machine - Ship to Wreck
2014: I, The Breather - Swine:Cult (ft Ricky Armellino)
2013: Grouplove - Ways To Go
2012: Reptar - Stuck in My Id
2011: Avril Lavigne - What The Hell
2010: Dark Tranquility - The Fatalist
2009: Collective Soul - Staring Down
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