Vampire Weekend will sink or swim with ‘Contra’

Vampire Weekend is dropping its new album in January, and as much as its Afrobeat pop pleases my… Vampire Weekend is dropping its new album in January, and as much as its Afrobeat pop pleases my collegiate taste, I’m worried.

After its self-entitled debut, I have high expectations for the band’s follow-up album, and anything less than awesome is going to be bitterly disheartening.

Getting an anticipated but disappointing album from one of your favorite artists is downright crushing.

Just ask any Weezer fan that recently had the misfortune to pick up and then promptly cast aside the band’s new album Raditude.

There are some bands you don’t really have to worry about. Industry veterans know how to smoothly transition from one album, sound or even genre to another.

The Decemberists, for example, didn’t give me this much grief when I was waiting for Hazards of Love.

I had a lot of faith in Colin Meloy and pretty much believed that he could come out on stage clanging pots and pans and singing the Canadian national anthem and still miraculously pull it off and make it cool — or interesting at the very least.

But Vampire Weekend?

They’re just babies! On the indie rock scene at least.

Lead singer Ezra Koenig and his Columbia buddies have to meet the towering expectations of fans of their debut album.

When Vampire Weekend came onto the scene a few years ago, they were fun and different with a cocky Ivy League boy attitude — and we liked it.

Even the ever-pretentious Pitchfork threw the coveted “Best New Music” button on its review of the album.

There was a bit of novelty in its quirky sound, and it brought something new and refreshing to college radios.

Two years later, the band has moved on from its days on Columbia’s campus and has been playing its Afropop music for a much larger audience than those academic elite.

And with the buzz circulating around its upcoming album, it seems to be everywhere, which only builds up the hype.

You can hear them on HP’s new commercial, learn guitar from Koenig on his YouTube videos and count down until the album is dropped on the band’s website.

I like Vampire Weekend a lot, and I want its new album, titled Contra, to blow me away.

But like tons of other fans out there, I’m questioning if mainstream success will affect it musically and if Contra will be a feeble attempt to emulate the success of its first album.

Even Paste Magazine’s “An Indie Rock Alphabet Book” book says, “Vampire Weekend is hot, so we’re told. But will they be around when you’re another year old?”

Personally, I’ve got a good feeling about Contra despite my anxiety and doubt.

The band put a downloadable copy of the first single off the album, “Horchata,” on its website.

It has a whimsical poppy beat that’s reminiscent of the band’s older stuff with a more dreamy quality to it and sounds pretty good.

Promising though it may be, “Horchata” is only one of 10 songs.

So for now I guess we’ll just have to sit and wait until the new year to see the new Vampire Weekend.