The truly exceptional New York four piece Vampire Weekend were in town this week, playing a triumphant sell out show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden to a crowd that simply couldn't get enough of their louche, lazy guitar moves.
Opening with 'Mansard Roof', blending lyrical alusions to the Falklands War and obscure architecture with Left Bank on speed-type baroque instrumentation,
even a premature guitar string snapping during the first guitar solo couldn't dampen the atmosphere of adoration.
They've been compared to Pavement and (at times) Paul Simon, but their frame of reference is much wider. You'd certainly have to add Teardrop Explodes, Devo, Elvis Costello, Bhundu Boys and a host of other things to that list. Take their most famous moment, 'Oxford Comma';
I'm sure that's the intro from 'Honky Tonk Woman' by the Stones with a (let's hope subconscious) steal from 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' by Bonnie Tyler(!)
Probably the best thing about them is that they're experts at sounding charmingly shambolic and loose when in fact everything's moving along quite effortlessly. There's tons of space in the songs, not a sign of the macho corporate punk bullshit that infects so many so called indie bands these days, and after just one listen you'll be humming these tunes for the rest of the day.
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