Whether it was the fawning buzz surrounding their 2008 debut or the band’s outright disdain for the Oxford Comma that had me running in the opposite direction, I never gave a frak about Vampire Weekend. Come to think of it, with the notable exceptions of Buffy and Annie Lennox, I’ve never been much into vampire-anything.

Not one to pass up free music, however, I did grab a download of “Horchata,” taken from the New Yorkers’ upcoming sophomore set, Contra, in October, but thought it was no great shakes. So with these strikes against Vampire Weekend, I’m not sure why I clicked through to NPR’s advance streaming of Contra, out next Tuesday. But one listen to the album, and I was a new convert.

Echoes of Paul Simon’s Graceland and Rhythm Of The Saints are all over Contra’s polyrhythmic pop, and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig often even sounds a lot like Simon. That favorable comparison—I’ve got a real soft spot for Rhythm Of The Saints—meant I only had to get over myself to finally sink my teeth into Vampire Weekend. Heck, I even came around to “Horchata.”

The band appeared on Letterman last night, performing “Cousins,” the proper first single from Contra. It’s not my favorite track on the album, by far, but still good. Hear here:

Vampire Weekend’s Contra is out Tuesday, 1/12. “Cousins” is available now via iTunes, Amazon MP3.