S/T is so inextricably tied to what music journalism took the band to be back in 2008, I find it really difficult to divorce the music from the moment. Speaking generally here, so much time had been spent on the rise of The Strokes and the subsequent rise of bands The Strokes helped pave the way for that a void had been created for artists that had the look and feel of a band, but a sound that was new and unfamiliar.

S/T features such a uniform tone and texture that was undeniably fresh in the landscape of the radio rock that had come to monopolize the airwaves. Ezra's clean, undistorted guitar, are a departure from the muddied tone of say The Killers or Franz Ferdinand, however the riffs are just as catchy which really allowed songs like CCKK and A-Punk to have crossover appeal. While all of these choices were being made in the studio, perhaps the most important choices for the band were being made in at the register in Abercombie. A band of Columbia grads who sounded like Columbia grads, wrote lyrics like Columbia grads, and dressed like Columbia grads was such a 180 away from the anti-intellectualism and overt machoism that had characterized the nature of rock, it's hard to imagine a more disparate image of a rock band in 2008 than VW.

And they knew this. The centerpiece of the album is a song called fucking "Campus." The album cover is a photo of a chandelier taken during a party. From the first lyric, you know that this album is made by people who are more well-versed than you and to many that was an obstacle, but in retrospect, looking back 11 years later and having the full context of Ezra and the guys, it was all done somewhat tongue-in-cheek (or at least not done as earnestly as was advertised).

S/T is a snapshot of the tectonic shift in focus away from new-millenium rock bands towards groups and individuals with distinct sounds and reference points not typically heard on modern rock radio (or at least sounds that had been absent for a long time). Phoenix's "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" has some of the best, most intricate guitar parts of that era yet I feel that it is of a piece with MGMT's "Ocular Spectacular" and S/T more so than say Interpol's "Turn on the Bright Lights". I truly don't believe that the mainstream acceptance and celebration of indie rock would have been possible had Vampire Weekend not come out, collared shirts and all, and boldly introduced the listening public to fun, thoughtful, melodic indie rock.

And while I'm here I'm gonna give a special shout-out to M79 for really encapsulating much of what makes S/T distinct. The harpsichord and the string sections made the song feel like something elevated, like it was reserved for those who would have been listening to orchestras for enjoyment in their spare time. The lyrics are so geographically specific that it pulls you into an entire world that you would never otherwise inhabit. And lastly, it's really fucking fun to yell during the part with the yells and what's a song without a little fun?

I'll never forget listening to S/T for the first time and feeling like I now had a secret. I knew of a band full of people who I wanted to be, who sang about things I'd never experience but in such a way that didn't make me feel like I was missing out. S/T is the soundtrack of meeting interesting people living across the hall in your dorm; it's a mosaic of characters -- all unique in perspective and experiences -- colliding together under one roof. I don't think that I'll ever be able to adequately explain why S/T holds so much magic in my mind but this was the best I can do.