Vampire Weekend‘s Ezra Koenig has given an update on the progress of the band’s new LP and says that they now have “80 per cent of the songs” ready for the album.

The singer, who was speaking to The Walkmen‘s frontman Hamilton Leithauser for Spin, said that working on the follow-up to their 2010 effort Contra had been a “long process” but hinted that they were nearing completion on the record.

“We’re working on our album. It’s been a long process. We always try to write and record at the same time,” he said, before adding, “So we’ve always got some ProTools session demo that tends to actually turn into the finished product. I think we have 80 per cent of the songs now.”

Koenig also paid tribute to The Walkmen by describing them as “the band that I’ve paid to see the most in my life”. The New York band released their seventh studio album ‘Heaven’ in May of this year.

Previously, Koenig hinted that the as-yet-untitled new album could be released later this year, but added: “I always want to release music as soon as possible, but more and more I’m realising it’s something you almost have no control over.” The band, who released their self-titled debut album in 2008, are set to play their first live date in almost a year at the Pitchfork music festival in July.

Photo: Tom Oxley/NME