Song of the Week – Harmony Hall, Vampire Weekend

Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Well, we’ve reached December and the year-end is right around the corner.  For me, that means it is time to start thinking about my favorite songs and albums of the year.

An easy call for me is to include Vampire Weekend’s 2019 release, Father of the Bride.  I’m sure I’m not alone.  After waiting 6 years for this long-player, their fans were starving for some new music from the group.  I remember going onto Spotify that May day it was released and seeing that several of the friends I follow were all listening to it simultaneously.

I wanted to make a cut from Father of the Bride a SotW earlier in the year, but I couldn’t decide which song to pick.  Would it be “This Life,” or maybe “Sunflower?”  I’m going to go with the first single they dropped from the album – “Harmony Hall.”

This track is 5 minutes of crisp, clean music that exudes a Grateful Dead, jam band vibe – especially with the guitar figure that starts around 3:45.  They even make judicious use of the vibraslap.

The lyrics are vague and could be interpreted in many ways.  To me, the lyrics evoke societal frustrations, but vocalist Ezra Koenig delivers them with an optimistic tone.

Anger wants a voice / Voices wanna sing

Singers harmonize / Till they can’t hear anything

I thought that I was free / From all that questionin’

But every time a problem ends / Another one begins

I don’t want to live like this / But I don’t want to die

On a side note, last year Koenig had a kid with Rashida Jones (daughter of Peggy Lipton and Quincy Jones) of The Office and Parks and Recreation.

Enjoy… until next week.

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