Vampire Weekend- Contra (****)

When you become a Pitchfork darling like Vampire Weekend has, you have an even more difficult time following up an excellent debut album.

True, Vampire Weekend’s self-titled effort owes a great deal of thanks to Paul Simon’s Graceland, but the novelty of resurrecting afro-pop tinged songs doesn’t last forever. So, singer-guitarist Ezra Koenig was going to have to push his Columbian friends into more daring and exciting sonic territory on their next record, if not for Pitchfork than for themselves.

Thankfully, Contra is every bit as exciting as Vampire Weekend’s debut. It’s an album that matches exuberance with tight musicianship, quaint confessions married to a rich pop background. From the thick opening pulses and blips of “Horchata,” to the cascading keyboards and muted bass lines of “Taxi Cab” it’s clear that Contra is an album from very a focused band, a band that doesn’t wish to be seen as a flash in the pan.

The largest difference in Vampire Weekend this time around is their increased emphasis on percussion. Drummer Chris Tomson has a big day out on Contra, his skins work fluid and hard hitting, often times taking center stage. Thankfully, the group puts a bit more thought into production this time around as they dash away the memories of that stiff kick drum with a spacious and full one this time around. What results is a record that’s not overly compressed, but one that’s certainly crisp.

Healthy growth seems to be the trend on Contra, for Vampire Weekend never get too distracted within their short bursts of melody. While the jaunt upstroked bounce of “Holiday” and the blistering guitar flurry of “Cousins” harkens back to their previous record, they aren’t record’s more exciting moments. Rather, it’s the moments where Vampire Weekend flexes their studio muscle. “Giving Up The Gun” sports thick smashing drums against a propulsive bass line and delicate bells, while “Taxi Cab” is a lush valentine set to strings and piano. Elsewhere, the group gets more baroque on cuts like “California English, the song’s fluttering backbeat giving way to cool harmonies, spiky guitar work, and even liberal amounts of auto-tune.

On paper, it sounds like a horrendous exercise in pop-indulgence, and for a lesser band it might be, but what makes it work is Vampire Weekend’s brevity. Their ability to experiment without feeling obnoxious puts them head and shoulders above their indie pop counterparts. In short, they seem to know exactly when to pull their sonic punches on, and this self-awareness has allowed them to create an album that never overstays it’s welcome, and always keeps listeners guessing.

It’s not all pop dalliances though. Where John Mayer failed in his “love-as-war” metaphor, Vampire Weekend excels in exploring romanticism within the hipster class war. On “White Sky” listeners are treated to skittering beats, twinkling synthesizers and Koenig’s syrupy croon as he sings, “Around the corner/The house that/Modern art built/I ask for modern art/To keep it out the closet…” In Koenig’s world, taste is everything, and it’s a dangerous propsition to stray from that.

Interestingly enough, however, Contra is less about love as a battlefield and more about the quest for authenticity eludes rich 20 somethings. True, it’s hard too feel too bad for the boys, whose lives seem to be all about sweet Mexican milk and modern art, but there’s real resonance to Koenig’s songs, intimacy as well as substance. On the album’s delicate and low key closer “I Think UR A Contra,” Koenig laments about the pitfalls of love, his soft tenor dipping and diving over chiming guitars. He sings, “My revolution thoughts/Live in lies of desire/I wanna trace them to the source/And the wire/But it's not useful now/Since we both made up our minds/You gotta watch out for yourself/So will I…”

If only more pop music could use its head like this.

While the band doesn’t quite hit the mark on the rather mundane “Run” and the sloppily arranged “Diplomat’s Son,” it hardly detracts from Contra’s consistent presence. Critics may complain that the band’s descending guitar work and smooth strings are only used sparingly, but Vampire Weekend are smart enough not to go back to the well too many times. In fact, it’s refreshing that they didn’t rest on their classical musings on Contra, opting to push their sound outward with coy percussion and nimble marimba touches.

Contra is a brave record where Vampire Weekend could have simply made a safe one. While people will always complain about something (and it’s probably a safe bet to assume they’ll complain about Contra), it’s clear that those detractors won’t really be listening to the music itself. Rather, they’ll be looking to see if their friends like it, or worse yet, if it meets Pitchfork’s seal of approval.

Good news for those people: Pitchfork likes Contra too.

The rest of us are free to enjoy East Coast love and Vampire Weekend’s infinite potential with some upbeat tunes.

Key Cuts: Horchata, Taxi Cab, Giving Up the Gun

Sounds Like: The Beatles (The Beatles), The Broken String (Bishop Allen), Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)

Click on the artwork to hear Contra for yourself!