Fans of Vampire Weekend may have expected Baio to replicate the band’s indie-rock sound on “The Names,” his debut album that dropped Sept. 18. Instead, Baio demonstrates his personal aptitude to be his own album’s frontman and carry it with his own musical prowess. The Names is a successful debut from Baio. It’s electronica that is grounded in a personal account of a boy dealing with his lonesome feels.
“Brainwash yyrr Face,” the opener single and possibly the strongest cut off the record, is catchy with a groovy beat and a blend of light, airy vocals that have a processed, glitch-like quality.
“Sister of Pearl” may satiate those who’ve pined for that chipper Vampire Weekend allure in the three years since the group’s last record. With the sprightly, repeated guitar lick, complementing the nimble medley of piano and slap-happy rhythm, it’s like an acoustic cousin of “A-Punk.”
Even Baio’s music video for “Sister” shows him in a typical silly-but-polished Vampire Weekend aesthetic – extreme-close ups of him flaring his nostrils, brushing his lapels, patting down his hair, before tying the laces and singing to the camera somewhere in the woods, looking debonair as all get-out. The way he sings, “If it even would matter, I would play every part/But I’m too overeager and I just false start” and squeezes in the extra two syllables of eager is sloppy and charming.
In “I Was Born in a Marathon,” Baio constructs a tidal wave of rhythm that resembles the sonic onslaught of thousands of sneakers slapping pavement as runners take off in a race. His voice is wrapped in sorrow, layered over the abstract beats below it. He pauses for a lengthy period somewhere in the middle, a momentary hesitation that illustrates Baio’s personal sense of irresolution. The music returns, killing the brief intermission and finishing with the same tempo as before, but the impact of that silence is powerful.
The opening beat on “The Names,” the album’s self-titled track, has a watery, jungle voyage rhythm to it that recalls “Giving Up The Gun.” It’s abstract and weird, but Baio’s reverberated, sensual vocals keep it in line.
The album closes with an impressive and epic instrumental, “Scarlett.” Beginning with explosive kettle-drum pattering, the entire song feels empowering and carries The Names to a gratifying conclusion. Although each song on the record speaks to a different characteristic of Baio’s – sometimes alienation, sometimes optimism – the album is cohesive accomplishment that flows effortlessly when played in one go.