VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vinyl & CDs

Review: After an extended hiatus of nigh-on five years, Vampire Weekend has finally got around to recording a new album. Only their third studio set in total, Only God Was Above Us sees the trio muse on the weight of history - their own as much as anything else - while fretting about what lies ahead for the human race. Musically, much of what's on offer is densely layered and impressively loud, with loads of intricate musical detail (check the jazz horns and mad stereo panning of 'Classical' and the string-laden, White Album-era Beatles nostalgia of 'Capricorn') working in unison with their attractive, harmonic, saucer-eyed vocals. It's a bit of a triumph all told and one that proves that there's plenty of life yet in Vampire Weekend.

Review: The fifth studio album from New York's perenelially preppy masters of the catchy indie anthem sounds like a tantalising mix of trademark qualities and an ever widening eclecticism, not to mention lyrical concerns that mirror the big scale traumas and worries of American life through the minutiae of interpersonal relations. The title itself comes, appparently, from an eyewitness account of a plane that lost its roof mid flight - add your own geopolitical metaphor here. But in short, there'll be a few surprises but VW fans everywhere will also get a serious dollop of what they've been waiting for for almost five years.

Review: "Father Of The Bride", Vampire Weekend's first album for six long years, has been receiving praise across the board from critics. It's been variously described as a "modern California pop masterpiece", a "scrapbook of brilliant ideas" and "the band's magnum opus". To our ears, it's certainly joyous and celebratory, with the acclaimed New York band wrapping their usual punchy-indie pop in subtle and not so subtle nods towards everything from Flamenco and Country music, to mournful piano ballads, excitable electronic indie-dance and 1960s baroque pop. In other words, it's a giddy collection of inventive, enjoyable songs that boasts the same eclectic, anything-goes swagger as the Beatles "White Album" or other similar wide-ranging sets.