There’s a new Vampire Weekend album on the way. We’ve known that for a while. Earlier this year, the band started releasing a series of vinyl-only live albums, and those records have been coming with print newsletters from the VW members. In June, drummer Chris Tomson wrote that Ezra Koenig had been inspired by taking “a raga singing lesson with Terry Riley in rural Japan” and that the band’s newest LP was “close to done.” He was excited about it, too: “I feel like it just might be our best yet. 10 songs, no skips.” Now, that new album is apparently “done.”

This isn’t exactly a surprise. It’s been five years since Father Of The Bride, and Vampire Weekend have already been announced for a few festivals next year. The latest Vampire Weekend live album, which was recorded in Milan, comes with a newsletter where bassist Chris Baio writes about how excited he was to play Italy for the first time. (It was 2008, and they opened for the Raconteurs.) He ends the reminiscing with this:

A few weeks ago I hosted the first ever Vampire Weekend Corporate Retreat on the Southern Oregon Coast. It was a dream to show my guys around a region of the country I have fallen in love with over the past few years. We took a buggy tour of the famous Oregon sand dunes (shout out to Sandland Adventure!), ate great food, explored rugged beaches, and most importantly, discussed all our plans for 2024. And let me tell ya, folks, there are a lot of em.

So I’d like to conclude this update with the most exciting news: LP5 IS DONE.

Obviously, we don’t have any further details on the new record, but that’s still something.