Father of the Bride (album)

"Hold You Now" has been described by The Times as "a gorgeous, folky opener". It contains a sample from Hans Zimmer's choral score for The Thin Red Line.[28] It is the first of three duets with Danielle Haim on the album, and its simple lyrics feature Koenig and Haim trading verses about seizing the moment in a relationship.[18] Koenig described these duets as the album's "tentpoles", taking inspiration from country duets by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn.[8][29] He chose to open the album with sparse vocals and acoustic guitar because he thought it was a "weird way to open a Vampire Weekend record".[8] "Harmony Hall" features warm and joyful music, with a "springtime" mood, and has been compared musically to the Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey" (1987). Influences from rave, baggy and Madchester music from 1990s England, such as "Unbelievable" by EMF, are also evident in its piano and beat, with Baroque elements in its bridge.[30][31][32] The "buoyant" music is juxtaposed against dark lyrics, with the track interpolating the line "I don't wanna live like this, but I don't wanna die" from "Finger Back" on the band's previous album Modern Vampires of the City (2013).[33][34] The brief and eclectic "Bambina", inspired by Couperin's Les Barricades Mystérieuses, features vocoder and "crunchy" guitars.[35][36] The musically bright and upbeat "This Life" contains handclaps and lively guitars, with Koenig's lyrics exploring "spiritual uncertainty" with levity, interpolating the line "You’ve been cheating on, cheating on me / I’ve been cheating on, cheating on you" from "Tonight" by American rapper iLoveMakonnen.[37] It has been musically compared to "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison (1967).[17][37] "Big Blue" ambiguously explores religious and cosmic uncertainty, with the concise track including ambient arpeggios, sporadic drum samples, "flowery" harmonies, a choir and detuned guitar riffs as it builds dynamically.[38][23] Its sparse electronic backdrop has been compared to the music on Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak (2008), while its "weeping" guitar style has been compared to the works of George Harrison.[18]

The "lurching" art pop of "How Long?" contrasts jovial and funky keyboards, sound effects, harmonies and guitars against dark and bitter lyrics about the potential demise of Los Angeles.[12][18][39] Writing the song, Koenig was inspired by both hip hop and alternative rock from the 1990s.[8] "Unbearably White" is a "colorful" art pop song, which develops to incorporate isolated vocals, handbells, jazz fusion-inspired bass guitar, and orchestral surges, and lyrically discusses a failing relationship.[12][40][41] Despite the title's allusion to criticisms of the band, the track does not primarily explore race.[17][40] The cryptic "Rich Man" samples palm-wine guitarist S. E. Rogie,[26] and features lush strings, with Koenig "crooning" about romance, wealth and ratios.[42] Koenig began writing the song at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards where the group won Best Alternative Music Album for Modern Vampires of the City.[8] "Married in a Gold Rush" is a "lush" country song, and the second on the album to feature Danielle Haim.[28]

The regretful and moody "My Mistake" incorporates jazz, lounge and experimentalism, featuring "watery" sampled field sounds.[14][20][23] The freak folk[43] and flamenco song "Sympathy" contains influences from Schaffel techno,[24] rave,[36] and English rock band New Order.[12] It has been described as "one of the band's most bonkers tracks to date",[44] while Koenig has characterized it as "the most metal Vampire Weekend’s ever gotten".[8] The unorthodox and psychedelic "Sunflower" opens with guitar, bass and scatted vocal runs in unison, reminiscent of prog, with its chorus shifting to warm soul-pop. It features abstract lyrics and channels the musical palette of the 1970s,[45][46] with Koenig comparing the track to the music of Phish.[8] The track features the Internet singer and guitarist Steve Lacy, who also contributed to companion track "Flower Moon",[47] which has been described as an auto-tuned chorale, in the style of the Beach Boys and music from Soweto.[12] "2021" is a minimal and romantic ballad,[48] built around a sample of ambient track "Talking",[1] composed in the 1980s by Haruomi Hosono for Japanese retail company Muji. It features a soft pulsing synthesizer and fingerpicked guitars, along with a distorted vocal sample of the word "boy" sung by Jenny Lewis.[49][48][50]

The anthemic and extravagant "We Belong Together" is the third and final duet with Haim,[28] and has been compared to "Mull of Kintyre" (1977) by Wings and the production work of Kanye West.[12] The track incorporates an early demo recorded by Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij at Martha's Vineyard in April 2012, as well as a separate idea Koenig wrote at a piano;[51] Koenig has described it as potentially the band's most "wholesome" song.[8] "Stranger" explores domesticity,[35] musically incorporating saxophones into its relaxed groove.[19] The song's lyric "things have never been stranger; things are gonna stay strange" has been widely highlighted as a microcosm of the album's core message.[52][53][26] Koenig has said that the song explores "when you’re in a house and you hear other people having a good time and you don’t feel left out because you have a sense of belonging".[8] The in media res narrative of "Spring Snow" laments a farewell to a lover, depicting harsh rays of sunglight and heavy snow against a musical backdrop of chamber pop with a Latin groove.[54][55][56] The "sad" album closer "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin" references the Balfour Declaration,[28] and has musically been compared to the works of Scottish electronic musician Sophie.[39] Koenig chose the three titular cities for their significance to the Jewish people, in order to explore the "struggle of identity". He also found significance in what the three cities represented more broadly, with Jerusalem signifying religion, New York signifying money and Berlin signifying culture.[57]

The album's Japanese bonus tracks include "Houston Dubai", a cover of Mickey Newbury's "I Don't Think Much About Her No More" (1969) and "Lord Ullin's Daughter". The latter song features English actor Jude Law reciting Scottish poet Thomas Campbell's poem of the same name over a stripped back rendition of "Big Blue".[58]

The band incorporated an expanded touring line-up to promote the album, with Brian Robert Jones, Greta Morgan, Garrett Ray and Will Canzoneri joining the group.[74][75] In January 2019, the band announced a North American tour, beginning on May 17 at Gulf Shores, Alabama, for Hangout Music Festival. Supporting acts for the tour include Angélique Kidjo, Despot and Soccer Mommy.[76] In March further performances were announced across Europe.[77] The group also promoted the album in a series of shows dubbed the "Three Little London Shows" in March.[78] On May 5, two days after the album's release, the band performed three consecutive sets at Webster Hall in New York City, including a performance of the album in full and a majority of the group's back catalogue, as well as appearances by Haim and Dev Hynes. The show concluded a three-stop tour of New York State.[79][80] During a September performance at Madison Square Garden, the band announced new 2020 tour dates.[81]

On March 21, the group appeared on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, performing "Harmony Hall" and a cover of "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee, in reference to the album's track of the same name.[82] In the week following the album's release, they appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing "This Life" and "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin" alongside Haim,[83] and on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing "Sunflower".[84] On June 26, the band performed a piano-driven version of "This Life" and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm Goin' Down" (1985) at New York's Electric Lady Studios for the Spotify Singles series.[85] The group performed, promoting the album, at the Glastonbury Festival.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.5/10[86]
Metacritic	82/100[87]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[88]
Chicago Tribune	[54]
The Daily Telegraph	[15]
The Guardian	[13]
The Independent	[25]
NME	[36]
The Observer	[14]
Pitchfork	8.0/10[23]
Rolling Stone	[12]
Vice (Expert Witness)	B+[27]

Father of the Bride was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album has received an average score of 82, based on 33 reviews.[87] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.5 out of 10, based on its assessment of the critical consensus.[86]

David Fricke of Rolling Stone described the album as a "masterpiece", praising its meticulous attention to detail and musical breadth, and concluding that "Vampire Weekend now look like the smartest guys in the room, marshalling a sumptuous, emotionally complex music perfect in this pop moment".[12] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis wrote that the album showcased "a band pushing past their boundaries with striking results", and that the few ineffective ideas on the album are significantly outweighed by its highlights.[13] Kitty Empire of sister publication The Observer praised the album's breadth and maturity, writing that it "exudes warmth and no little sonic familiarity, while reflecting what is a radically altered set-up".[14] Chris DeVille of Stereogum wrote that the album could potentially be the group's magnum opus and that it "manages to be both a casual joyride and a multi-layered dissertation on the world’s ills".[52] Variety's Zack Ruskin asserted that the album consists of "inventive, often brilliant ideas delivered with little concern for how palatable listeners might find them", concluding that the album's pleasant music "could soundtrack an afternoon picnic" while its esoteric lyrics could "be used as fodder for a doctorate thesis on songwriting".[21] For The Wall Street Journal, Mark Richardson wrote that the album's quality justified the long wait for its release, writing that despite its length the album felt focused as opposed to sprawling.[89]

Jon Pareles of The New York Times praised the album's contrast between heavy lyrics and bright music,[26] while Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph complimented Koenig's "joyous" experimentation with music and incisive language, advising listeners not to take the record too seriously.[15] For The Independent, Jazz Monroe commended Koenig for maturing without becoming self-serious, writing that the album's low stakes and "unfashionable" nature were its strongest features.[25] In her review for AllMusic, Heather Phares wrote that the album "finds Vampire Weekend embracing change and delivering some of their most mature and satisfying music in the process".[88] Thomas Smith of NME praised the album's fun nature, writing that it "sounds like the work of some pals noodling away in the studio and shooting the shit" and "more often than not it’s a hit, not a miss".[36] In Robert Christgau's Expert Witness column for Vice, he applauded Koenig's complex exploration of class, describing it as a "sprightly, allusive, elusive, technically accomplished collection" that generally "bespeak[s] some fraught combination of lost youth, career anxiety, and, way down deep, political dismay." His one caveat was that the songs are "melodic yet seldom uplifting or effervescent".[27]

In a more critical review, Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune described the album as "mild", noting that Koenig's lyrical expressions of discomfort were not conveyed through the pleasant music.[54] For Pitchfork, Mike Powell opined that the album was somewhat overlong and dispensable compared to past releases, and that its discussion of contentment and belonging felt unsuited to the group, but praised the album's braveness and new musical direction.[23] Steven Edelstone of Paste criticized the album's lyrics, and Koenig's adoption of a "derivative" musical style that did not fit the band, concluding that "it’s simply impossible not to wonder what happened and where they lost their way, culminating in a major disappointment for perhaps the most anticipated indie rock album in recent memory".[16] Spin's Jordan Sargent argued that the album was likely the band's worst, yet still rewarding. He praised the band's development, writing: "On the one hand, everything sounds spectacular; on the other, the album does contain some of the worst ideas the band has ever put to tape".[53]

At the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, Father of the Bride was awarded Best Alternative Music Album.[90] The album was also the group's first to be nominated for Album of the Year, while "Harmony Hall" was nominated for Best Rock Song.[91]

The album appeared on multiple 2019 year-end lists. At Album of the Year, a website which creates an aggregate of music critic's year-end lists, Father of the Bride was listed at rank 11 for 2019.[92] Entertainment Weekly[43] and Thrillist[93] named it the best album of the year, while Vulture,[94] The Observer's Kitty Empire,[95] Us Weekly,[96] British GQ[97] and Stereogum[98] listed it in their top five. The Los Angeles Times,[99] Slant,[100] BrooklynVegan,[101] Rolling Stone,[102] Consequence of Sound[103] and Slate[104] included the album in their top ten, while it was listed among the top 25 by Billboard,[105] NME,[106] The Guardian,[107] Flood,[108] The Atlantic,[109] Paste,[110] GQ[111] and Pitchfork.[112] Other publications that included Father of the Bride in their year-end lists include Complex,[113] Uncut,[114] Uproxx,[115] Mojo,[116] and AllMusic.[117]

The album was also included in decade-end lists for the 2010s by BrooklynVegan (35),[118] Stereogum (84)[119] and Rolling Stone (92).[120]

Father of the Bride debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 138,000 album-equivalent units, including 119,000 pure album sales. It is Vampire Weekend's third consecutive US number-one album.[121][122] Additionally, 13 songs from the album, including all six of its singles, reached the top 50 of Billboard's US Hot Rock Songs chart.[123] The album also reached number two in the UK[124] and Scotland,[125] and the top ten in Portugal,[126] Ireland,[127] Canada,[128] Australia[129] and the Flemish Region of Belgium.[130]

According to the album's liner notes.[lower-alpha 3]

• Nick Harwood – art direction
• Primo Kahn – cover design
• Public-Library – cover design
• Brendan Ratzlaff – illustration