Vampire Weekend have announced that they will release their secondalbum in the UK on January 11, 2010. It will be out on XL Recordingsand it’s called Contra.

The soft-focus cover art finds the bandgleefully affirming their preppy reputation, depicting as it does apretty girl in a Ralph Lauren polo shirt (if RL aren’t paying throughtheir teeth for this ridiculously effective advertising, theyshould be). Contra is the follow-up to the New York-based band’sself-titled debut of 2007, and will doubtless be huge.

Update! The band’s singer Ezra Koenig speaks out about the album in the new edition of NME:

"Just like on the first album I’m really happy with how everything tied in, musically, lyrically and especially aesthetically…That cover is really evocative of the music that’s on there and everything works together. The goal now is just to continue that unity of all elements. It’s everything goes into being a band, it’s not just the music or the lyrics.

Koenig concludes: "The songs are coming from a place nearby the first one, but it’s different!"

You can hear live versions of two of Contra‘s tracks here:

Tracklisting:

1. Horchata2. White Sky3. Holiday4. California English5. Taxi Cab6. Run 7. Cousins 8. Giving Up The Gun9. Diplomat’s Son 10. I Think Ur A Contra