Happy Mondays vs. Vampire Weekend

I don’t know about you but I am always, sometimes without knowing, comparing songs. It’s the game of name that tune when I know how it sounds but don’t know for the life of me what it’s called or who’s responsible for it.

It happened again today when Vampire Weekend’s new track, Harmony Hall came on the radio. I do like Vampire Weekend and it’s been a long time coming for them releasing new music. I was listening to the track for the first time and along came the chorus which triggered something in my mind… “where have I heard this before?”.

It was the staccato piano chords combined with the bongos. Tell me if I’m wrong but it has a Happy Mondays vibe to it.

Here’s the comparison:

Vampire Weekend with some strong facial expressions

Happy Mondays in their prime

Have the very Manc Happy Mondays influenced the Indie Rock New Yorkers?

Who knows. (insert appropriate emoji here)

It is possible as Vampire Weekend’s frontman, Ezra Koenig, has been known to be influenced by the British scene. In particular The Smiths, Coldplay, Radiohead, The Kinks, The Specials and The Beatles.

For the other members of the band Paul Simon, Talking Heads and even Metallica have been influences for them.

I like to research into who has inspired certain bands and artists because it allows you to almost dissect each track into the techniques and sounds of previous musicians - if you want to dive that deep that is!

Every musician is influenced by someone whether they are learning or even just listening to a piece of music.