Have you spent much time thinking about the symbology and ephemera involved in the grand return of Vampire Weekend? It's apparently informed by mysticism and also-ran jam bands, and all the visuals are full of confusing sigils and Earth day imagery. I can't keep track of any of it—and this is only on the back of a couple of singles and an Instagram post. Anyway, given Ezra Koenig's sense of humor it could mean basically nothing. Who knows?If you were the Reddit sleuthing type, you might see the new video for "Harmony Hall," directed by Emmett Malloy and released today, as an expansion and evocation as some of those opaque symbols. In the clip, Koenig makes some mandalas out of pancake batter, and there's complex diagrams overlaid onto the video. But all of that matters not, because of the very good green snake who steals the show. One could even read the snake's appearance as some complex manifestation of the sigil that forms the artwork for the song—and the "wicked snakes" referenced in the lyrics—but I recommend instead just enjoying its steely gaze as it slithers among the fruits laid out on Koenig's table. Look at it gleam and glisten! Those eyes! I love them and I want to be their friend.Jonah Hill also makes a brief appearance, but this isn't the video that he disrupted peak-hours shopping at Zabars for. No, make no mistake, this is the snake's show, Jonah's just living in it. All hail snake.Representatives for Vampire Weekend didn't immediately respond to requests for the name of the snake, who I love. We'll update this post if they respond.UPDATE [February 21, 2019, 1:32 EST]: Per the snake's handler, it is a Green Tree Python named Leaf. Good snake name, imo.
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