Vampire Weekend took over the SiriusXMU channel this past weekend to celebrate the release of their new album, Only God Was Above Us. The band hung out in the SiriusXM studio to record interview segments and a stripped-down live session, during which the group covered Grateful Dead’s “Peggy-O” with help from Amber Coffman and violinist Ray Suen. Vampire Weekend also played acoustic renditions of their new songs. Watch their take on “Peggy-O” below.
Only God Was Above Us is Vampire Weekend’s fifth studio and includes the singles “Mary Boone,” “Capricorn,” “Gen-X Cops,” and “Classical.” The band also launched a podcast tied to the record, Vampire Campfire; in each episode, band members discuss the making of the record and its songs.
Earlier this week, on Monday, April 8, Vampire Weekend played a special show in Austin, Texas, to coincide with the solar eclipse. And, last night, they joined the jam band Goose at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. Together, the groups played “Gen-X Cops” and a 31-minute take on “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.” Watch the performance below.
Read about Vampire Weekend’s Contra and Modern Vampires of the City on Pitchfork’s list “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s.”