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Vampire Weekend’s ‘Only God Was Above Us’: All 10 Tracks Ranked
Vampire Weekend's 'Only God Was Above Us' gets a preliminary track ranking.
For all of Father ’s tie-dyed inclinations – and despite drummer Chris Tomson’s dalliances with the world of noodling, by way of his psychedelic side project Taper’s Choice – Vampire Weekend’s fifth full-length, Only God Was Above Us, returns the band to more familiar, erudite territory. “PREP-SCHOOL GANGSTERS,” the cover of the Dec. 16, 1996 issue of New York magazine declared, describing rich kids who “cruise the city in chauffeured cars, blasting rap, selling pot to classmates.” It’s a quintessential Vampire Weekend juxtaposition – this is the band that interspersed its punctuation critiques with references to Lil Jon on “Oxford Comma” – and thematically powers this mid-album cut. Session musicians spice up the relatively slight tune, with drumming by Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes and vibrant violin work from Eric Gorfain (Beyoncé, Frank Ocean) and Daphne Chen (Travis Scott, Lizzo).
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