Koenig seems to have found a way to mold the tasteful palate of the1970s into something bigger than an aesthetic. Father of the Bride is distinctly modern in its approach and bears traces of Vampire Weekend’s past fixations, like esoteric samples, strings, choirs, polyrhythms and art pop. But this is not an album of pure pastiche. Much has been made about the jam band aesthetics surrounding Father of the Bride, from the synchronized guitar lines of “Harmony Hall” and “Sunflower” to the album art and visuals that seem to revel in the glory of, “We can discover the wonders of nature.” But the Grateful Dead are just one influence on an album that plays gleefully with the myriad styles of the Seventies, from the earthier, country-tinged grooves that fluttered out of Laurel Canyon in the first half of the decade, to the meticulous studio polish that marked its end. In the six years between 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City and their new LP Father of the Bride, one of the best ways for Vampire Weekend fans to get their fix was to listen to frontman Ezra Koenig’s Beats 1 radio show, “Time Crisis.” The show provided a unique window into Koenig’s mind and what the band’s long-awaited fourth LP might actually sound like by way of two of the most frequent topics of conversation: The Grateful Dead and the “tasteful palate of the 1970s.”
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