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Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

"Unbelievers"

Rolling Stone: star rating
Community: star rating
5 3.5 0
November 12, 2012

Vampire Weekend debuted their latest song on Jimmy Kimmel Live Halloween night, sporting ghoulish skeleton makeup appropriate to both the holiday and the post-Hurricane Sandy mood. There's a touch of the macabre in "Unbelievers," too: "We know the fire awaits unbelievers/All of the sinners the same/Girl, you and I will die unbelievers bound to the tracks of the train," coos frontman Ezra Koenig. The song points to new directions for the New York indie heroes as fans await their third LP, with lyrics that mull the big questions – faith and apostasy, love and fate, life and death – and skittering, jittery music that jettisons the band's usual African borrowings for something more like power pop. But the melodies are still strong, the harmonies still bright – and there's still a view of Cape Cod Bay from Vampire Weekend's picture window. "I know I love you," sings Koenig. "And you love the sea." 

Listen to "Unbelievers":

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