If you’ve ever tuned in to Ezra Koenig’s niche radio show, Time Crisis, you are probably familiar with the phrase: “the tasteful palette of the ’70s.” Repeated frequently by both Koenig and his co-host, Jake Longstreth, it’s a meme-y inside joke that is rooted in their shared admiration for the earthy sound of ’70s classic rock and funk. And it comes up especially often when the pair are discussing the Grateful Dead and their jam-band descendants Phish—which is a lot.
On “Sunflower,” which features the Internet’s guitarist wunderkind Steve Lacy, Vampire Weekend keep the palette of the ’70s alive, though it is questionably tasteful. Koenig’s love for the Dead and Phish is obvious in the proggy bass scales that open the track, the frantically curling guitar licks, and even… the harmonized scatting that’s done in unison with the instruments. It’s kind of like Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” by way of Guster. But “Sunflower” is not supposed to be serious, as evidenced from Ezra’s faint chatter at the top of the track and the actual sound of laughter heard in the background later on. The song keeps flirting with that fine line between the corny and the cool—returning to the same arch playfulness that Vampire Weekend had when they were once branded dismissively as Ivy League rockers. “Sunflower” is weirder and more psychedelic than the other three songs unveiled from their album so far, a peculiar new piece of the larger Father of the Bride puzzle.
