"Cousins" is the first single from

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...

's second album '' Contra''. It was recorded by the band in

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and debuted a few days later in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. The single was released November 17, 2009 and a 7" was released December 15, 2009.

Music video

The video for the song, directed by Garth Jennings, debuted on

MTVU MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. MTVU programming initially served 750 college and univ ...

on November 19, 2009. The music video was recorded at Cortlandt Alley, New York. The video features the members of Vampire Weekend performing in a long alleyway. Throughout the song, the members of the band rotate places on a platform that moves up and down the alleyway on a track. While some of the band members are on the platform, the others take positions beside the platform. The band members also exchange masks of one another, wearing them whilst singing. Towards the end of the video,

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starts raining down on the alley. ''

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'' describes the video as "quick, quirky, and unpredictable but not without a sense of humour about itself, so pretty much perfect for a band of Ivy Leaguers who aren't above self-satirizing their prepped up ways."

Track listing

Personnel

Vampire Weekend *

Ezra Koenig Ezra Michael Koenig ( ; born April 8, 1984) is an American musician, record producer, and radio personality. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Additionally, Koenig is the creator of the ...

– lead vocals, guitar * Rostam Batmanglij – piano, background vocals, vocal harmonies, keyboards, harpsichord, VSS-30, drum, synth, sampler programming, guitar * Christopher Tomson – drums * Chris Baio – bass Technical * Rostam Batmanglij – mixing, engineering * Justin Gerrish – mixing * Tito Fuentes – engineering * Melchor M – engineering assistance *

Emily Lazar Emily B. Lazar is an American mastering engineer. She is the founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, an audio mastering facility that has operated in New York City's Greenwich Village since 1997. She won a Grammy Award for ...

– mastering * Joe LaPorta – assistant mastering engineering

Chart performance

Following '' Contras release on January 11, 2010, "Cousins" began to receive increasing amounts of digital downloads. The single first entered the UK Singles Chart on January 17, 2010, where it reached a current peak of #39. It entered the UK Indie charts at #3.

Use in other media

Cousins is used in the opening sequence of the 2010 film, '' The Kids Are All Right,'' although the song does not appear on the soundtrack release. It also appears in '' Pro Evolution Soccer 2011'' as a soundtrack. It was also covered by the British indie folk band

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, double bass, bass guitar), and Ben Lovett (British musician), B ...

. It is also available for purchase as DLC for Guitar Hero games, and is featured in Guitar Hero for iOS.

References

{{authority control 2009 songs Vampire Weekend songs XL Recordings singles 2009 singles