Hayden Burke shines the spotlight on BAIO's independent solo debut.

Chris Baio is commonly known as the Bass Guitarist for hit N.Y. based indie super-group, Vampire Weekend. More recently, Baio was hard at work away from Weekend, working on his first solo record, ‘The Names’.

Now, I am a massive Vampire Weekend fan, like…huge. I can’t exactly emphasize the love I have for the band (I liken it somewhat to the passion I have for blondes with morning Cappuccino moustaches), so for me to be following their solo crusades is no surprise. However, Baio is the one member of the band that has quite frankly slipped under my radar completely.

I was first alerted to Baio’s eponymous outing through the album’s lead single, ‘Sister of Pearl’. This track harkens back to the earlier work of Weekend (particularly the intro of ‘M79’), which featured many happy vibes and utilized classical instrumentation. Sister continues this, with a familiar sounding piano, chord progressions – and not to mention extremely lyrics, brought to life by Baio’s extremely strange vocals (awesome, nonetheless).

Now, Baio’s apparent ‘odd’ artistry is without a doubt the sign of his genius. After all, he is a member of a band full of white-educated kids who found their sound from the roots of AfroPop. As for the album itself, the majority feels completely different to the lead single. There is a very apparent indie-house vibe, which is most prominent on the track, ‘I Was Born In a Marathon’.

The album is full of droning synthesizers, twangy and strange piano chords, electronic rhythms and dramatically epic lyrics. Standout tracks include the aforementioned ‘Sister of Pearl‘, as well as ‘Needs‘, ‘Matter‘ and a personal favourite of mine, ‘Endless Rhythm‘.

So, would I recommend ‘The Names’? Obviously, that’s why I wrote an entire editorial based around it. However, I will say this: If you don’t enjoy odd vocals and weird hybrids of rock and dance genres – this probably isn’t for you. However, if you like bands such as Chromeo, MGMT, Stepdad and OF COURSE, Vampire Weekend – then this is the record (yes, get the LP) for you!

I highly recommend turning this one up to full volume.

‘The Names‘ is now available both on CD and Vinyl over at The Muses.