STREAM: Vampire Weekend’s new songs, “Diane Young” and “Step”

March 18th, 2013

Mike Sacchetti

After their first full performance in nearly a year at SXSW last night, Vampire Weekend released two new tracks from their upcoming third-studio album, Modern Vampires of the City.

The first track, “Diane Young” is an upbeat and distorted rock driven song, even by Vampire Weekend standards. The group’s production, detuned vocals, and sampling may seem a bit off base to the casual Vampire Weekend fan, but with a track record of skillful song arrangement, the band can manage to pull off almost anything.

“Step” is more of a contemporary Vampire Weekend track, and a beautiful one at that. The lyric video is accompanied by shots of New York City, which captures the soothing vocals of lead singer Eza Koenig.

Both “Diane Young” and “Step” can be heard below.

Modern Vampires of the City is available May 7th on XL Recordings. You can pre-order the album here. Tour dates for Vampire Weekend’s U.S tour beginning on April 12, 2013 can be found below:

4/12 Las Vegas, NV – The Cosmopolitan
4/14 Indio, CA – Coachella
4/16 Davis, CA – Freeborn Hall at UC Davis
4/17 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
4/21 Indio, CA – Coachella
5/8 London, UK – The Troxy
5/10 Paris, FR – Casino De Paris
5/15 Boston, MA – Agganis Arena
5/16 Toronto, ONT – Sony Centre
5/17 Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
5/19 Kansas City, MO – Midland Theater
5/20 Denver, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre (co-headline w/ Of Monsters and Men)
5/21 Salt Lake City, UT – Red Butte Garden Amphitheater
5/23 Portland, OR – Keller Auditorium