The Vampire Weekend frontman created the animated Netflix series

A new song by Ezra Koenig features in the Neo Yokio Christmas special, it has been revealed.

The animated Netflix series was created by the Vampire Weekend frontman and debuted in September 2017. Until that arrives, a festive hour-long episode has been released on the streaming platform, titled ‘Pink Christmas’.

As Spin reports, the special contains a surprise Koenig-penned track called ‘Friend Like You’. He reportedly worked on the song with producer Bloodpop and ILoveMakonnen.

In it, Koenig is heard singing: “I never had a friend like you/I don’t think I’ll ever find another.” The track appears between the 32nd and 33rd minutes of the episode and again during the final credits. Both appearances are merely snippets rather than a full version

The anime series stars Jaden Smith as Kaz Kaan, a wealthy “magistocrat” living in an alternative timeline version of modern-day New York.

Meanwhile, Vampire Weekend are set to release their new album, which has the working title ‘Mitsubishi Macchiato’, next year. After the band headlined Chicago’s Lollapalooza in August, Koenig treated fans at an after-party to previews of some of its tracks, played off of his phone.

One fan later informed Reddit: “The sound is a more spacey and empty sounding record, almost reminiscent of [Fleet Foxes’] ‘Crack Up’ in parts, but VERY bright and sunny – a summertime sound with almost a protest song sound vibe to them (no political lyrics I heard or anything like that), and then big dense flashes of instrumentation with heavy percussion and a slick, almost sexy taste of ’70s funk licks. Going to be an interesting record.”