CORRECTION:  In a previous version of this article, several songs on The Vanderbuilts’ new album were said to be sung by lead singer Sam Kogon. Not all songs were sung by him. Grennan Milliken sings the vocals for “Near and Far,” Dave Riddell sings “Had a Hat” and Max Newland sings “Lies.” The album name was also misstated. The album is titled “What we Forget.” The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

Last year, out-of-the-ordinary indie-rock busted the pop music landscape wide open. Fun. and Mumford & Sons cleaned up at the Grammys, and folksier acts — The Lumineers, Imagine Dragons, Gotye — notched unlikely Top 40 hits.

In short, mainstream music got weird, a trend The Vanderbuilts definitely capitalize on with their sophomore full-length album, “What We Forget.”

The band traces a journey from the beginning of time. This is one out-there record.

But between the existential concept and the band’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to indie-rock standards, it works. “What We Forget” is The Vanderbuilts’ most mature work yet, and from the first shimmering notes of the instrumental intro “Some Time After 43,” it is also the band’s best-sounding.

Sticking a genre label on the band is tough, but with jangly toe-tappers like “Erasing Time” and “Let Me Know” pacing the album, The Vanderbuilts are like a Vampire Weekend-The Strokes hybrid by way of Talking Heads. Those roots go hand in hand with The Vanderbuilts’ baroque leanings: the string arrangements on the album are lushly composed, but they don’t come across overly folksy.

Lead singer Sam Kogon turns in a chameleon-like vocal performance on “What We Forget,” and does his best jittery David Byrne impression on “I Wish I Was a Saber Toothed Tiger” before slinking into a frantic Julian Casablancas on “Moscow.” Kogon weaves through the songs with intricate deliveries — weepy ballad “Near and Far” and falsetto-laden “Gypsy” are standouts — even if his lyrics miss the mark once in a while.

It’s easy to give The Vanderbuilts a free pass for “breaking the mold of the typical concept album,” as described on the group’s Bandcamp site. But lyrically, a concept album needs, well, a concept. And when “Erasing Time” starts with a groovy beat and a line like “I have lived for 30,000 years,” while nostalgia-soaked closer “Had a Hat” leads off with “I believe I had a hat,” there’s going to be problems.

“What We Forget” definitely belongs to the “Talking Heads School of Songs About Simplicity”: bluesy soft-rocker “Elvis” and acoustic number “Gypsy” stand at the awkward crossroad of love song and moody art rock, and The Vanderbuilts never sway one way or the other.

For all its strange idiosyncrasies, “What We Forget” is a tough album not to get charmed by. The production is vibrant, Kogon’s vocals are full of life and, minus a few clunkers, the songs are darn catchy.

“Spring Awoke” is a roots-rock jam that tips its cap to Americana, and “Lies” sounds like a recording session in a garage on steroids. “I’m Coming Home” even sounds radio-ready, boasting some huge harmonies and a quirkily placed string arrangement that sounds right at home on a driving melody that flaunts some sweet guitar-riffing. It has the understated epic indie sound down to a science.

But if “I’m Coming Home” is the album’s choice cut, its lowlight is easily “Had a Hat.” The lyrics are puzzling, the instrumentals are jumbled and the vocals just sounds bored. If The Vanderbuilts flipped the order of the closers, or heck, just trimmed “Had a Hat” off of the album entirely, “What We Forget” would be a tighter, cleaner affair.

“What We Forget” isn’t too weird to be hip: it’s not the kind of album that points to its own weirdness because it’s artsy, daring and wants the world to notice. It’s an organic kind of weird, one that stems from some carefully calculated experimenting that moves the Vanderbuilts further and further from any one genre.

Catch them on campus while you can – there’s a lot to remind listeners of another baroque-ish band that played shows in Syracuse before hitting it big. The Vanderbuilts haven’t exploded to Ra Ra Riot’s stature yet, but might find themselves on the brink sooner than they might expect.

Published on March 4, 2013 at 11:29 pm

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman