“Definitely in the new year,” Rostam states, giving a broad target as to when we can expect new material. “There will be things that you can hear. I think we feel very good about it. There’s a spirit to it that we’re proud of. It feels like fresh ground for us. I think what’s defined us is this subtle complexity that’s always there,” Rostam states. “We’ve always driven toward simplicity, but with that underlying complexity that never leaves. I think that’s important in all of our songs that they exhibit these things. We’re not afraid of simplicity. On a more emotional level, I can say that we are hard on ourselves and we weren’t going to settle for a song that was just ‘good’ on this record, we wanted to rise above ‘good’ to be ‘great’.”
Listening to the next crop of Australian artists rising through our airwaves, there’s a noticeable strain of Vampire Weekend’s influence shining through. It’s an effect that belies the groups relatively recent emergence. “Well it’s an honour. I wish any them well, I wish any band well in making music. I think music is the most rewarding thing you can try to do and it’s the hardest thing that you can try to do. It’s not something that always comes naturally, that’s why I love it. There’s depth to it because of that. I guess I feel lucky and I feel honoured, and it’s something that I work on every day of my life. Personally, I have not heard many Vampire Weekend sound-a-like bands, but I’d be curious to,” Rostam states.
Projecting a distinct, yet understated, visual aesthetic since their inception, Vampire Weekend ran into some legal trouble with the album art for Contra, with the subject of a vintage Polaroid launching a lawsuit claiming the image was used without her permission. As for the artwork for album number three, Rostam isn’t taking any chances. “Well we have an image that I really love, and I hope we get to use it and get clearance. There’s some controversy in there. Well it’s not exactly controversy, but there are some hurdles in order to get the clearance. I do think it’s special and hopefully we’ll be able to get it. Well I’ll say that there is the aesthetic shift with the music, and it signifies that. There’s a shift in tone and personality, and I think that it signifies that as well.”
Extracurricular to Vampire Weekend, Rostam produced a track for Das Racist, plus appeared in their Michael Jackson film clip. Did their recent break-up surprise Rostam? “Yes and no. I think that when you start a band in college, there are changes that you can undergo – you might grow closer, you might grow apart. You might need to grow apart in order to get closer. That’s something I can relate to. I don’t know if it’s the end for Das Racist, and I don’t know what’s going to happen with them.”
Like Das Racist, Vampire Weekend had their genesis in college. But where Das Racist combusted, Rostam feels that Vampire Weekend have grown stronger. “Me and Ezra have a songwriting partnership, one that over the course of the records has grown much stronger. In some ways, I feel like we’re leaning on each other more. The majority of the past records were the result of our songwriting partnership, and on this new record I feel like so much of what was written was an intertwining of us individually as songwriters. I guess we have grown closer.”
As well as production work, Rostam has released solo material under the title Boys Like Us, plus appearing on the collaboration with Kid Cudi and Best Coast on the 2010 hit All Summer. As he explains, these outlets provide a musical respite from his full-time group. “I think the purpose is being able to breathe. The result is that I get inspired to make more music, rather than getting drained. I think if you listen to the songs that I put out on my own, or the song I collaborated with Kid Cudi and Best Coast on, I think it becomes clear that they’re inhabiting distinct worlds, in the same ecosystem maybe, but they have their own worlds. I think sometimes if you have a dream you have to chase it down. I think I’m inspired to write more music, and in the past year or so it’s been in the context of the band.”
We can expect Vampire Weekend to be performing new material when they arrive in Australia for Big Day Out. Just how many new tracks we can expect to hear remains uncertain. “I think we’ll be playing somewhere between a couple and a handful,” Rostam reveals.
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
