By Delia Paunescu

Getting into the indie music scene can sometimes seem as exclusive as getting into an Ivy League school. You don’t quite know where to start and everything is new, foreign and a little snooty. The boys of Vampire Weekend-the newest indie band to have those so very bored with the current music scene talking-are fortunate enough to blend both for us. The quartet is made up of recent grads from Columbia University and has just released their debut album.

A self-titled work, the 11-track album is a fun listen, filled with jangly guitars and preppy polyrhythm that most prevalently channels the Afro-pop found in Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” It is clear from even the first listen that these guys have been heavily influenced by the ska and twee that came before them.

But in keeping with bands like Belle and Sebastian, Vampire Weekend is not here to change the indie music scene or turn it on its head. The album seems to have been made for its own sake and the music it contains is pure and simple. Sure there are African beats and percussions but the message is still a collegiate one.

The historic college vibe is almost inevitable and songs like “Campus” talk about seeing an ex around after a breakup (“How am I supposed to pretend / I never want to see you again?”), the newest single “A-Punk” deals with the separation of friends after graduation in a track that blends ska with woodwinds and “One (Blake’s Got a New Face)” ends with the haunting line, “Oh your collegiate grief has left you dowdy in sweatshirts / Absolute horror!”

Personal favorite “Oxford Comma” has these Ivy Leaguers asking, “Who gives a f-ck about an oxford comma?” (the piece of punctuation that is added before the “and” in a list and, coincidentally, one this publication does not use) in the chorus.

The bright instrumentation and happy rhythms of ska are most prevalent in “Boston” where sweeping violins blend with upstroke as lead Ezra Koening sings, “Chestnut park on a Saturday night / Mystical boys feelin alright…the ladies of Cambridge know who I am.” There’s cellos in “Walcott” and “Bryn” even finds the guys adding harpsichord to their already rich repertoire of offbeat musical instruments. There are also Baroque influences in their music and most of the album seems to benefit from whatever general culture courses the band members may have been required to attend during their time at Columbia.

But nothing about the freshman release is overdone. Koening’s guitar doesn’t overpower his vocals and drummer Chris Tompson’s beats, be they punk or tribal, never overshadow the melodies of Rostam Batmanglij on keyboard.

Vampire Weekend became the hot new thing on the indie music scene with tracks that were widely available on music blogs this past fall. Their first single, “Mansard Roof,” is a lovely, clean track. The music video features the guys traveling on a sailboat across a beautiful turquoise sea. Their languor the video exudes would be enticing enough in the middle of winter. But what’s so great about the simple wonder of this new band is that while their warm sounds might brighten up a cold day, they are not overpowering and it is likely you’ll still want to hear them in the spring.

The members of Vampire Weekend, a new indie band whose self-titled album was released at the end of Jan., met while they were undergrads at Columbia University. Because of their origins, the band’s debut album has an inescapable collegiate motif. (myspacce.com/vampireweekend)