Vampire Weekend s Chris Baio - Credit: Press
Away from his day job as bassist with Vampire Weekend, Chris Baio is no stranger to side-projects, performing with experimental rock project C.Y.M. and under his electronic pop solo moniker, Baio. In between finishing his main band’s 2019 double album ‘Father of the Bride‘ and the start of last yearâs lockdown, Baio wrote and recorded this third solo album. It’s the New Yorker’s most confident and cohesive solo record yet.
Some seriously world-weary themes re-emerge from the second Baoi album, 2017’s ‘Man Of The World’: the threat of nuclear war, death and a lack of control in politically uncertain times. Yet the contrast here couldnât be starker. Baio often sounded dejected and frequently overwhelmed on his last (he tackled everything from David Bowieâs death to climate change, Trump and Brexit â often simultaneously).