Vampire Weekend’s Next Album Is ‘Close to Done’ and Inspired by Raga
Lead singer Ezra Koenig studied raga singing in rural Japan.
Vampire Weekend is wrapping up their next album, which, in a surprise twist, is apparently heavily inspired by raga.
For those unfamiliar with the term, raga is a melodic framework used in Indian classical music. When it comes to applying that framework to Western pop or rock, it typically means the inclusion of Indian musical sounds and the use of instruments such as the sitar or tabla, a type of hand drum.
The news was shared via a newsletter for the band’s vinyl club series, where they select and press a live set, then release it in a limited run of vinyl and merch. Vampire Weekend drummer Chris Tomson wrote in the newsletter that singer Ezra Koenig had taken a “raga singing lesson with Terry Riley in rural Japan.”
Following the lesson, Tomson said that Koenig went on to write “what he considers to be 7 of his all-time top 10 best songs.”
While the drummer didn’t provide an exact release date for the follow-up to 2019’s Father of The Bride, he noted that the album is “close to done” and will comprise “10 songs, no skips.”
In other music news, The Alchemist will drop a new LP called Flying High featuring Earl Sweatshirt, Larry June and more.
