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Father of the Bride

Vampire Weekend

One of my favorite bands, Gentle Giant, once released an album called "Pretentious for the Sake of It," joking about their decidedly complex progressive rock. I would never think of Vampire Weekend's music as anything close to Gentle Giant. But in that overall spirit, I could see VW naming an album "See How Smart We Are?," though I'm not sure they'd be joking. This particularly applies to "Father of the Bride," their first record in several years. The band's been through many Life Changes, and they're reflecting these adventures and experiences in this ambitious double album. Head songster Ezra Koenig does a fine job assimilating all his stylistic touchstones across 58 minutes of smart, glossy, sorta-smug pop: Phish, Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, the music Koenig heard in the nightclub on his Jamaican cruise ship, and possibly Van Morrison. There's a lot that's pleasing here, but the big problem is that I've just got to figure out where any Vampire Weekend originality starts and the pastiche/paste-by-numbers homage ends.