The wait for VW5 is almost over: Vampire Weekend have confirmed that their next album is “done.”
Back in June, Vampire Weekend announced a new vinyl series in which they’d be sharing exclusive live LPs along with accompanying newsletters. In that first newsletter, the band wrote that their upcoming project was “close to done”; in the edition shared Thursday (December 14th), bassist Chris Baio wrote that “LP5 IS DONE.”
Baio didn’t go into much more detail on what to expect from the record itself, but he did reflect on recently hosting the “first ever Vampire Weekend Corporate Retreat” along the coast of Southern Oregon, and it seems like the band cooked up some good ideas along the way.
“It was a dream to show my guys around a region of the country I have fallen in love with over the past few years,” Baio wrote. “We took a buggy tour of the famous Oregon sand dunes (shout out to Sandland Adventure!), ate great food, explored rugged beaches, and most importantly, discussed all our plans for 2024. And let me tell ya, folks, there are a lot of em.”
The material on today’s new live album — which you can purchase here — comes from a 2019 Milan show while Vampire Weekend were touring in support of their last album Father of the Bride. Baio also reminisced on VW’s first time touring Italy, while they were supporting The Raconteurs in 2008. See the newsletter below.
Vampire Weekend are also slated to perform at next year’s Primavera Sound and Kilby Block Party, which makes it seem like they’re carving out some nice touring time for LP5 as well.