Short is sweet

I had a problem with some of the critics' albums of 2009, in particular Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest, even Fever Ray's debut album. All three had brilliant moments - Animal Collective's My Girls, Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks and Fever Ray's When I Grow Up are standout tracks of last year. But the records they came from also needed a good edit. Perhaps these bands were more about creating mood and atmosphere than hit after hit, but as Merriweather Post Pavilion crept up to the hour mark, it did trip over into self-indulgence from time to time.

All of which was brought into sharp relief by my first album purchase of the year, Contra by Vampire Weekend. It's a bit early to call it great, just a week in, but just like these arty New Yorkers' debut (34 minutes) its sheer brevity is a real virtue. From Horchata to I Think Ur A Contra, their follow-up is just 36minutes long, and an endearing rattle through the styles that people love to hate a white indie band for appropriating: reggae, calypso and most obviously, Afro-pop. Listen for yourself, here:

Of course, Vampire Weekend are essentially a chart-focused pop band more disposed to making short, sharp three-minute singles than Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear. It's in their DNA, and therefore it's no wonder that a ten track album will clock in at 30-odd minutes. But having said that, my favourite records of last year were The XX's debut album (38mins) and Wild Beasts' Two Dancers (37minutes). The former was a brooding hymn to the nocturnal hours and was inspired by dubstep as much as guitar music. And the latter was intricate, quirky indie rock sung in falsetto. Both, then, exactly the kind of records you'd expect to be taking up an hour of your time - uninterested as these bands seem in hit singles (although in my world, Hooting And Howling is a No.1).

But no, they're tight, focused albums, and all the better for it. Once, all records were this long (or, perhaps, short), confined by the limitations of the vinyl format they were produced on. CDs, with their 78-minute capacity changed all that, and I suppose the digital age means an album can be as long as the band want it to be.

Perhaps the digital age has also changed my listening habits and I'm more fidgety with an album, less used to listening to it all the way through as iPod's shuffle function becomes the norm. But I do know I've been enjoying Vampire Weekend and Wild Beasts as they were intended to be heard: in one sitting.

So don't get me started on double albums...