Vampire Weekend - Mansard Roof

Vampire Weekend clearly have a lot of ideas, which is certainly to be commended. Squeezing them all into two and a half minutes, however, results in a big mess. Reggae-inspired vocals sit awkwardly atop offbeat synth stabs (which don't quite seem to know what they're meant to be doing), burbling strings and a drum-kit sounding very much like it's made of plastic. The overwhelming feeling is that Vampire Weekend are trying too hard and pumping all their ideas into this one shot in case they don't get another. A truly ramshackle record that leaves the listener scratching their head. [Heather Crumley]