Vampire Weekend have revealed they are adding raga singing into their repertoire on their new album. Better yet, the New York indie rockers also promised the project is “close to done.”
In a newsletter (via Vulture) accompanying the first volume of their new vinyl series, drummer Chris Tomson gave fans the lay of the land, saying lead singer Ezra Koenig “took a raga singing lesson with Terry Riley in rural Japan and wrote what he considers to be 7 of his all-time top 10 best songs.” Whether or not the band is replacing guitars with sitars is currently unknown.
Tomson went on to describe being able to “connect, jawbone, and jam” with his bandmates without any responsibilities and compared it to their formation at Columbia University. “I personally found an immense peace and pleasure from creating with the guys like we had in the Ruggles days,” he wrote. “The vibe was strong.”
In a PS, Tomson teased that the currently unnamed follow-up to 2019’s Father of The Bride is “close to done” and promised more news by the end of the year. He added, “I feel like it just might be our best yet. 10 songs, no skips.”
Earlier this month, Vampire Weekend launched their vinyl-only live album series with Frog on the Bass Drum Vol. 01, which was recorded at a June 2019 show in Indianapolis. It was manufactured by Jack White’s Third Man Pressing and limited to 2,500 copies, which quickly sold out.