Father of the Bride (2019)

Father of the Bride is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. It was released on May 3, 2019, by Columbia Records, as their first album on a major label.

The release marked the band's first project in nearly six years, following Modern Vampires of the City (2013), and the group's first project since multi-instrumentalist and producer Rostam Batmanglij's departure from the group. It was primarily produced by Modern Vampires of the City collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid and lead singer Ezra Koenig, and features numerous external collaborators, including Danielle Haim, Steve Lacy, Dave Macklovitch of Chromeo, DJ Dahi, Sam Gendel, BloodPop, and Batmanglij. The pop and indie rock album is musically diverse and heavily referential, contrasting heavy and direct lyrics against a bright spring-time musical mood, with its wide range of influences including country music and jam bands.

The album was preceded by three double singles: "Harmony Hall" / "2021", "Sunflower" / "Big Blue" and "This Life" / "Unbearably White". Upon release, it received widespread acclaim from music critics, earning the band their second Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album as well as their first nomination for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It was also a commercial success, becoming the group's third consecutive album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200. The band promoted the album with a global tour, featuring an expanded seven-person lineup.

Background and recording

In May 2013, the band released Modern Vampires of the City to critical and commercial success, winning the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. The album was promoted with a world tour, which concluded in September 2014. Tired from the tour, the band took a break from writing and recording. During this period, Koenig created the animated television series Neo Yokio and co-wrote and produced "Hold Up" from Beyoncé's Lemonade. He also gradually relocated from New York City to Los Angeles.

On January 26, 2016, Rostam Batmanglij announced his departure from the band via Twitter, emphasizing that he and Koenig would continue to collaborate. Later the same day, Koenig announced that Vampire Weekend had begun working on their fourth album, under the working title Mitsubishi Macchiato, with Batmanglij contributing to the record. In November 2016 it was reported that the group had signed to Columbia Records, marking their departure from XL Recordings. During 2016 Koenig spent time writing the album and researching in libraries with grad students. In March 2017, he said the album would feature a "spring-time" vibe and at the time consisted of songs entitled "Flower Moon" and "Conversation".

The album was primarily recorded in producer Ariel Rechtshaid's home studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles – dubbed Effie Street Studios – as well as Vox Studios in Hollywood and Sony Music Studios in Tokyo. This led to numerous collaborations with Rechtshaid's then-girlfriend Danielle Haim. In September 2017 Koenig said the album was "about 80% done". Batmanglij was involved in the album, and in a December interview Koenig noted that their method of partnership had not changed despite Batmanglij's departure from the band.

On the other hand, Koenig's remaining Vampire Weekend bandmates, bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson, were not involved in the album. In 2024 Koenig would state that the album was made with "them having some confidence in me to take us somewhere interesting, and me having confidence that they’d be down to kind of wait and still be a part of it."

Koenig also stated that working with Kanye West had inspired him to include a wider variety of musicians on the album, and that his songwriting for the album had been influenced by country singer Kacey Musgraves. On the influence he said, "I'm the type of person who has spent hours poring over the avant-garde poetic lyrics of certain songwriters, and there was something that felt so good [about how] from the first verse, you knew who was singing, who they were singing to, what kind of situation they were in", noting that this hadn't applied to many Vampire Weekend songs. On August 4, 2018, Koenig announced that the album had been completed.