Ezra Koenig Finally Shares Details on New Vampire Weekend Album

It's 18 songs long, and we can expect the first new music from it next week

Photo: Sarah Murphy

BY Josiah HughesPublished Jan 17, 2019

Vampire Weekend- and TC-heads rejoice — Ezra Koenig has finally lifted the veil on some details for the band's long-awaited fourth album.

He hasn't given us a full title just yet, but the release's initials are FOTB (leading some of us to hope that it's been named after an infamous Japanese powerviolence band).

The release is made up of 18 tracks. According to Koenig, it will be on two vinyl records so you can call it a double album if you want. He adds that it runs for 59 minutes.

Better yet, the wait is nearly over for new music — we can expect two new songs to drop per month before the album arrives in full three months from now. It's pretty confusing, to be honest, but we can at least rest assured that the first of the new music will arrive next week.

Read Ezra Koenig's full announcement below.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To the fans:⁣ I know that 5-6 years is considered a long time between records. Personally, I think it's a dignified pace befitting a band that's already placed three albums in stores but everyone has their own sense of time. (I swear the time between 3 & 4 felt shorter to me than 2 & 3. I may be in the minority on this one.) ⁣ ⁣ This album didn't really take any longer to write/record than MVOTC. We just took more time on the front end to chill. I'll admit I may have stretched out the mixing/mastering process (aka THE END) a little bit cuz spending half the day with my family & half the day at Ariel's is my ideal life-rhythm & it's painful to say goodbye to that rhythm.⁣ ⁣ Many of you have been hungry for information and we've given you very little. I don't like talking abt a project while in the middle of making it. I usually regret everything I say cuz it turns out to be wrong (so disregard anything I may have said in the past 5 years.) I thought abt making a recording diary to tide over the people leaving intense comments but…to me, the album IS the recording diary…man.⁣ ⁣ It's called "FOTB" (well those are the initials - that's a VW tradition) and it's 18 songs. Picked the name a few years ago. At some point early on, the album drifted from the Mitsubishi Macchiato aesthetic. It was a helpful guiding principle tho. Working titles are important too.⁣ ⁣ It's a lot of songs but they all belong there. (If you disagree, you can always say it was 6 songs too long & make a lil 12-song playlist version of it.) At first, I wanted to make two 23-song albums on some human chromosome shit but then 23&me started doing Spotify playlists and I don't know…felt we'd been scooped.⁣ ⁣ Is it a double album? The vinyl will be double so…yes? It's about 59 minutes long. We can talk more abt that later – if u care. To me, it's just FOTB.⁣ ⁣ Anyway, we're gonna start releasing music next week. After all that waiting, you should have the general schedule:⁣ ⁣ -There will be three 2-song drops every month until the record is out. 1. hh/2021 2. s/bb 3. tl/uw. (plans can change that's the plan)⁣ ⁣ Thank you for ur patience,⁣ Ezra

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