Vampire Weekend's new album will be "darker and a bit spookier."

The indie rockers are busy working on the follow-up to 2010's Contra, and have opted for a more old-fashioned sound with eerie lyrics and haunting undertones.

"Lyrically it's a bit darker, a bit spookier at times. It definitely feels more nocturnal than anything we've done before. Musically there's a lot of organic tones. There's some old sounds that have been around forever, like the sounds that bands in America started with. [It goes] back to the roots of music being recorded or being played in a room by a band, " explained Rostam Batmanglij.

The "Horchata" hitmakers ignored pressure to rush release their album last year and are taking their time to craft their new opus, which they believe needs to maintain the same level of "excellence" fans have come to expect.

"We definitely have a level of excellence to maintain. I mean that's why we didn't put out a record a year ago, we could have, and it would have been filled with some great songs and some mediocre ones, and we knew that was not the time. So we scrapped a lot of things, which is something we've never done," Rostam added.

Vampire Weekend are kicking off their Big Day Out festival tour of Australia on January 18 in Sydney.