Only God was above usThe fifth studio album, and first in five years, from Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio and Chris Tomson, is due out April 5 via Columbia Records.
Inspired and haunted by 20th century New York City, the album was recorded around the world, from Manhattan to Los Angeles, London and Tokyo. Only God Was Above Us was primarily produced by Koenig and his collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid, mixed by Dave Fridmann and mastered by Emily Lazar. Watch the album trailer BELOW:
The beginnings of Only God was above us It dates back to 2019-2020, when Koenig wrote most of the lyrics. The 10-track masterpiece is the product of five years spent gradually refining, reworking and shaping those lyrical and melodic structures to take Vampire Weekend to a new creative peak. The album is direct but complex, showing the band at once at their bravest and also at their most beautiful and melodic.
Only God was above us is nothing less than a definitive statement, one that begins on a playfully profane and confrontational note and runs through a series of emotions, experiences, characters and stories before ending on an unequivocal note of acceptance… and, literally, “Hope.” :
“I hope you let it go
I hope you let it go
Our enemy is invincible.
I hope you let it go.”
The title is taken directly from the album art, composed of photographs taken in a New Jersey metro cemetery in 1988 by Steven Siegel. On the album cover, a man on a downed subway car reads the May 1, 1988 edition of the New York Daily News, the cover story detailing the horrific explosion that tore the roof off Aloha Airlines Flight 243. The headline quotes a survivor: “ONLY GOD WAS ABOVE US.”
The tracklist is as follows:
ice cream piano
Classic
Capricorn
Connect
High School Gangsters
The surfer
Generation X Police
Mary Boone
Pravda
Hope
Vampire Weekend will perform in Austin, TX at the Moody Amphitheater at noon on April 8 during the historic total eclipse to celebrate its release week. Tickets for this special event will go on sale February 13 at 10am CT. Pre-sale and general information can be found at www.vampireweekend.com.
Only God was above us is Vampire Weekend's first full-length album since 2019's Father of the Bride, which was the band's third consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Nominated for a GRAMMY for Album of the Year, Father of the Bride won Best Alternative Album. marking the band's second victory in that category. Considered “a masterpiece” by Rolling Stone's David Fricke, the album and its coinciding tour of stadiums, sheds and sold-out festival headlining venues solidified VW, born and raised in the tri-state, as the preeminent band of the New York rock scene. or in the words of USA Today, “The best indie band of their generation.”
Only God Was Above Us will be available digitally and physically on CD, standard black vinyl, limited edition clear vinyl on the band's website and with an alternate album cover available exclusively at independent retailers.
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