In December Drinking Horchata

Photo by Christianne Young, words by Darryl Marsden.

Horchata by Vampire Weekend is the first song to be heard from their upcoming second LP release Contra, due January 11th on XL. After a mysterious countdown on their website the resulting prize was this track, available for free download. Vampire Weekend have become synonymous with summer, but this track goes someway to showing they’ve changed. There is a wide array of instruments on show, so many you can’t even tell what is what a lot of the time, but it keeps with the tribal sound VW went for on their debut album.

Ezra Koenig’s vocals have an effect on them which gives them more of a chill to them than on previous songs, giving the track a cold yet chirpy atmosphere. The main hook, “In December/drinking horchata” sticks in your head like a migraine and it has the bounciness that lets you know this is a Vampire Weekend track. If the rest of Contra is like this, it could be the soundtrack of your winter.

[MP3] Vampire Weekend - Horchata
[WEB] More from Vampire Weekend here.