Vampire Weekend turn 'nostalgic'

By Damian Jones
6 Music News reporter

Vampire Weekend debuted new material in London on Thursday

Vampire Weekend say their forthcoming second album, Contra, was influenced by the 1980s.

The Brooklyn band, who won acclaim for the Afro-pop guitar sounds on their self-titled debut, have started using samplers and pianos for the follow-up.

Organist and producer Rostam Batmanglij said: "There is a sense of nostalgia that we're capturing that creates a different feeling from the first LP.

"I also think it conjures up a lot of different emotions."

Tracks slated to appear on the record, which is out on 11 January 2010, include White Sky, Holiday, California English and Giving Up The Gun.

"There's a bunch of new sounds on this LP," Batmanglij explained.

When we were making our first album we had no idea people would be interested in it Chris Baio, Vampire Weekend

"There is more piano and I've got this little sampler from the 80s that you can sing into which takes your voice and maps it across the keyboard.

"I used it on the tracks Horchata and I Think Ur A Contra. It sounds like an angel choir."

The band said they had put themselves under a lot of pressure in the studio to ensure Contra matched the success of their debut.

"When we were making our first album we had no idea people would be interested in it," explained bassist Chris Baio.

"So to go into working on this second album knowing that there were people out there who are fans of our band and who wanted to hear what'd we come up with was inspiring and exciting."

The four-piece also revealed they were heading into Abbey Road studios to record a special session.

"Our label had this idea that we would go in there and jam some of the new songs live," said Batmanglij. "We're trying to bring in some of the instruments we used on the record like strings and marimba."

The resulting tapes could be released separately, he added.