Album Review: Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend

As part of my research into the 2019 Grammy's Album of the Year category, I listened to each nominated album 5 times in order to evaluate my own ranking.

Here are some quick stats about Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend:

• Album #4

• Released May 3, 2019 (Last album release in 2013)

• Album length: 57:50, 18 tracks

• Peaked at #1 on US Billboard 200 (8 weeks on chart)

• Genre: Pop, Indie rock

• Metacritic score: 82/100

Even though this album is pretty upbeat, I found myself pretty bored listening to it. The songs all sound pretty similar to each other, and they're similar to what Vampire Weekend has put out in the past. It took me more listens than usual to be able to distinguish the songs.

I'm surprised that this album did so well on the charts. I've heard literally zero buzz around it. I was wondering why it even was nominated.

Some songs I liked included "Harmony Hall," "My Mistake" and "Sunflower." There weren't any that I particularly disliked.

The lead singer, Ezra Koenig, is listed as a writer for all of the songs. For a lot of them he is the only writer. He is also a producer for all of the songs. They are a band so of course they are responsible for playing a lot of the instruments in the recordings. I always respect when the artist is so influential in the behind the scenes work.

Overall, I probably won't ever go back and listen to this. I wasn't really a fan. It just wasn't for me. I probably won't ever go back and listen to this album. I may listen to a few of the ones that stood out, but that's about it.