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[rating:67/100]
While “White Sky” has been floating through YouTube for months now, last night marked the song’s big national debut. And while Ezra Koenig’s vocals were perfect and the whole band seemed to be clicking, the song came nowhere near the original live performance that I saw. Originally, “White Sky” was a wild, rollicking party song, with wild-but-controlled vocals, “heys” from Rostam Batmanglij in the backround, and a clap-heavy, keyboard-driven beat that sounded like Kanye having some fun with his 808 drum machine.
But last night was different. The boys turned the song into a slow, rather dull ditty. It was still sugary-sweet, sure, it used the string section to great effect, and it will sound great on the record as an easy listen on the ears. But it certainly wasn’t the wild, upbeat Vampire Weekend song I was expecting. Actually, while it’s still a very good song, it may just be one of VW’s weakest to date.
This doesn’t mean I don’t have confidence in their next album- as a matter of fact, I have a feeling it will be even better. I just wish Koenig and company had kept this song the way it was to start.
Click on for the song in its ORIGINAL form, as well as a live mp3 from last night
[download#34]_
Tags: Ezra Koenig, Favorite New Songs, Jimmy Fallon, Vampire Weekend
wow… youre completely right. first one is much catchier
Wow, I totally disagree. I think the first one was too energetic but this chilled-out new version really blows me away. Smoooooth. Great, I certainly hope the album version is going to be like this. I hope their new album is coming soon, can’t wait for it, Vampire Weekend is great.
Yay, did you hear Ezra say we can expect the new album this fall? So excited!
sounds like he’s sneezing…
The popped music festival version is super duper awesome, but it kinda feels first albumy. I like the direction they took with this one, I’m feelin the chill laid back vibe. Hopefully, we’ll get lots of house party afro pop tracks on album dos !
thanks a million times over for the MP3…and Knatterjak, are U still recording music? I remember your covers fondly
I like it. Though I didn’t think they’d carry on with the Graceland-style thing, I thought they could incorporate a bit more ska or something in there, would be nice. Or maybe even some Indian sounds? Sitars?
“The recorded version is very different from how we played it on Fallon. Because we were still working on the recording, we decided to do this very slow acoustic version [on TV]. The real version is more like how we’ve been playing it live. There’s a lot of synth sounds, and it’s a little more pumped up.”
-VW. Sweet.