Vampire Weekend - Contra

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This album could own your summer

Had sound and season been in perfect harmony, we'd be listening to 'Contra' for the first time as May arrives. Instead, the lyric "Winter's cold is too much to handle" gives rise to knowing smirks and sighs and like Animal Collective's 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' this time last year, you're getting warmed up but also thinking how much better this album will sound when there's a real stretch in the evenings.

While praised widely for their self-titled debut, it pales when played next to 'Contra', and the 'nice indie boys with some flights of fancy' have revealed that there's a lot more to them. The production is better, the vocals are stronger and the songs have more going on amidst the grooves and quirks. The African and Latin influences that intermittently appeared in 2008 are in abundance here, and the result is even more bedroom dancing and a heightened sense of elation.

Don't expect everything to click as instantly as 'A-Punk' did two years ago, but prepare yourself for a far more memorable adventure.

Harry Guerin

Tracklisting: Horchata - White Sky - Holiday - California English - Taxi Cab - Run - Cousins - Giving Up the Gun - Diplomat's Son - I Think Ur a Contra