Vampire Weekend have begun the hype push for their anticipated fifth album. They shared a teaser video on Instagram with just a little music, and the only accompanying text is the file name, “OGWAUteaser1.mp4.” You can watch and listen below.
Those letters, “OGWAU,” are probably the initials for either the title of the album or the song. Redditors seem to think it’s the album title and stands for Only God Was Above Us, which is a reference to a New York Daily News front page headline from 1988 about a Hawaiian Airline flight where the top of the airplane blew off mid-flight. There is a photo from a series by photographer Steven Siegel featuring someone riding a graffiti-covered NY subway car while reading the Daily News, and a different photo from that same series is the current landing page of Vampire Weekend’s website. You can see the OGWAU photo below.
As for the album, drummer Chris Tomson wrote in a VW newsletter, “Ezra [Koenig] took a raga singing lesson with Terry Riley in rural Japan and wrote what he considers to be 7 of his all-time top 10 best songs.”
Vampire Weekend haven’t announced a tour, but they’re scheduled to play the Salt Lake City’s Kilby Block Party and New Orleans Jazz Fest.
