Vampire Weekend unveil unique solar eclipse experience

Posted On March 20, 2024March 20, 2024

American indie icons Vampire Weekend are scheduled to perform a special live-stream concert in Austin, Texas, in April to coincide with the solar eclipse that will occur in that part of the world.

The eclipse is forecast for April 8th, when Vampire Weekend plans to take the stage at Austin’s Moody Amphitheater. The concert will start at 12pm local time (5pm UK time) and is expected to last two and a half hours.

The eclipse will begin at 1:36pm, after which there will be around two minutes of darkness as the Moon blocks the Sun’s rays from reaching a circular shadow on the Earth’s surface. The rare eclipse will sweep across some parts of North America throughout the day.

To allow fans of indie pop and astronomy worldwide to enjoy the phenomenon, Vampire Weekend will live-stream their performance via Veeps. Tickets for the event are free and can be accessed here. 

While the band members are enchanted by the astronomical phenomenon, the performance is part of a wider promotional campaign for their upcoming album, Only God Was Above Us. The album is set to arrive on April 5th, just three days before the livestream. So far, the new record has been previewed by three singles, ‘Gen-X Cops’, ‘Capricorn’ and ‘Classical’.

‘Classical’ arrived last week and made it to a prominent place on Far Out’s ‘Big Indie Playlist’. “A solid hint of ‘M79’ reimagined makes for a nostalgic single as Vampire Weekend offer up a slice of indie ran through a waltzer soundscape to create an odd funfair anthem,” our 4-star review read. “Their new album sounds like it’s going to be a good one.”

Only God Was Above Us was inspired, at least titularly, by a New York Daily News headline featured on the album cover, which includes several photos taken at a subway graveyard in New Jersey by Steven Siegel in 1988. According to a recent statement from the band, the upcoming LP was also inspired “and haunted by 20th Century New York City.”

Urban to its core, Vampire Weekend recorded Only God Was Above Us in fragmented studio sessions across London, Tokyo and Los Angeles, soaking the concrete atmosphere at each

See the tracklist for Only God Was Above Us and hear ‘Classical’ below.

Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us tracklist:

1. ‘Ice Cream Piano’
2. ‘Classical’
3. ‘Capricorn’
4. ‘Connect’
5. ‘Prep-School Gangsters’
6. ‘The Surfer’
7. ‘Gen-X Cops’
8. ‘Mary Boone’
9. ‘Pravda’
10. ‘Hope’

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