Music Review: Vampire Weekend's frenetic, challenging 'Only God Was Above Us' is an ode to New York

American rock band Vampire Weekend returns with their most challenging record to date, the frenetic Only God Was Above Us.ge..

The 10 tracks on Only God Was Above Us won't easily grab the listener the first time through, like the instantly infectious cuts Harmony Hall or This Life did on their last full-length release, 2019's Father of the Bride..

While Father of the Bride has a California sunshine and Grateful Dead-infused sheen, Only God Was Above Us is a sometimes dissonant, cacophonous ode to New York City in the 1980s..

That sometimes-confounding tone is set right out of the gate with the first track, Ice Cream Piano, which begins with lead singer Ezra Koenig singing an expletive and features a furious guitar riff throughout, ending with a crash of instruments..

The mesmerizing album closer and best track, Hope, comes in at nearly 8 minutes and is both unsettling and soothing at the same time, with a whirling dervish of sound punctuated by Koenig's refrain of I hope you let it go / I hope you let it go..