Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig talks about unlocking the silly and deep and holding it down for Beyonce

Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig has played huge festivals with crowds of people singing his lyrics back to him. But he says it was nothing like watching Queen Bey perform the words he wrote at Coachella.

Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig’s biggest song isn’t sung by him.

New York’s chirpiest singer/songwriter sent a tweet in 2011 re-imagining Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ song Maps with his own take on the lyrics, it then began its own life span, winged its way to Beyonce and — long story short — it became the bare bones for her massive hit Hold Up. Koenig is a co-writer.

“It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” Koenig says.

“I’ve played at big festivals and had crowds sing my songs back to me but I’d never been in the crowd singing to my own song as I watched Beyonce on a 50 foot screen ...with everyone singing words I wrote,” he says, delightfully dazed at the Coachella memory.

“I couldn’t believe she picked my demo out of 50 songs Diplo played her. When he called to tell me I didn’t believe him, I was like, ‘Oh surrrre.’ Beyonce really made that song her own,” says Koenig, careful not to take up too much space.

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Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig is now friendly with Beyonce.

Queen Bey put Lemonade on Spotify last week and it will be jostling in the charts, wielding a baseball bat, with Vampire Weekend’s fourth album, Father of the Bride.

Father of The Bride is a continuation of sparkly guitars, jagging jives and internal, restful moments that began on Vampire Weekend (2008), Contra (2010) and Modern Vampires of the City (2013).

Koenig and co (sans Rostam Batmanglij who bailed in 2016) worked up 43 songs in the interim and he did some proper life things like: hook up with actrees Rashida Jones and have a baby boy. Awww.

“We have a shared sense of humour and crack each other up which is a key ingredient in any relationship (chuckles).”

Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig is now friendly with Beyonce.

Father of The Bride’s first single Sunflower has a seesawing Sesame Street “1-2-3-4-5 etc” vibe with scatting and Koenig’s light’n’lovely voice “Sunflower in the morning, Standing in the garden, All before you wake.” It’s exactly the song we wanted to hear from Vampire Weekend.

Ezra chuckles. “Well I tell you it’s a song I always wanted to hear from Vampire Weekend too. I’ve always been a little bit insecure about my guitar playing because I’m a way better piano player.”

“I wrote A-Punk, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and Cousins on guitar — they helped — but as I get older I want to get better so I found myself running scales on the guitar. I would just play it up and down using every string. It (Sunflower) has this fun climb then descent back down.”

For a song that only goes for 2.25, it still feels like a satisfying journey.
“Well that’s something we try to specialise in with Vampire Weekend. I love short songs, I love long songs ...I don’t like ones caught in the middle.”

Koenig looking pensive, feeling powerful.

Album highlight How Long contradicts that by running for 3.32mins.
“Me and Ariel (Rechtshaid, co-producer) thought maybe it would be a single. We knew there’d be a little cult around this song (How Long). It started with a simple groove, it took me back to lyric writing to almost Oxford Comma era. Then Ariel went to town with it. Every verse is a scene change, there’s always something happening, I love the staccato bass chords before the third verse. He really took that song to the next level.”

The two showed off a collective intuition that’s key to every good studio relationship, see also Aldous Harding and John Parish, David Bowie and Brian Eno, Bjork and, ahh, Bjork.

“Another important example of mental telepathy was in Unbearably White. I had the guitar part and I was thinking it would be a more ‘Stonesy type song, Beast of Burden, a little more twang, and as soon as he heard it, it took him to this early ‘70s haunting-but-funky vibe. He immediately came up with the simple groove, then I was like ‘Oh yeah that’s what the song needed! This is our tones coming together’.”

This Life sees Koenig stretch himself again. Dude has great core strength, helped out by his core bandmates Chris Thomson and Chris Baio.

“It started with this song by I Love Makonnen, he’s a friend of mine and that’s why he’s a writer on it, that line ‘You been cheatin’ on, cheatin’ on me, I’ve been cheatin’ on, cheatin’ on you.’ It’s the lyric I’d never write, I’ve never used the word cheating in a song before,” he says. You still haven’t, old bean.

Ready for a short back and sides.

“It’s the number one thing people worry about in relationships, I was thinking most songs you write are accusatory, especially when you’re young. Like in Oxford Comma when I sing ‘Why would you lie?’” he says, arching his eyebrows. “When you write songs as a teenager and in your early 20s you’re looking around going ‘God people are f---ed up.’ Then as you get older you realise there’s pain in joy and joy in pain. Things are more complicated than you think. There are situations where you feel wronged and also have to appreciate someone else’s feelings that they feel wronged.”

“Instead of a song like ‘You cheated on me and I hate you!’ how about a song ‘We’ve both been cheating on each other,’ and working out how to move on from it. It’s about not getting swept up in being hypocritical. This Life doesn’t sound like a Vampire Weekend title, I’ve gotta realise I’m in a different place in my life than when I was 21 writing those songs. It’s really a song about life and trying to move forward. I didn’t have the experiences 10 years ago,” he says, wise not jaded.

Last year, Vampire Weekend gave Splendour In The Grass exactly what they wanted. So, like, dude, WHEN YOU COMING BACK?

“A lot of Australians keep asking me when we’re coming back out. That was our first festival in five years. It was a little crazy to do that. It was such a warm welcome even though it was a cold night. When we kicked into New Dorp New York, I was like — ‘Are people gonna know this? It’s not even a Vampire Weekend song, it’s a SBTRKT song’ — and it was such a good feeling and I was like (exhales) ‘This rules’,” he says, with bashful grace.

“I remember in the early days of Vampire Weekend touring I heard we could go out to Hanging Rock (in Victoria). That movie was so weird and vibey, it made a very big impression on me. I asked ‘Wait, are we near Hanging Rock!?’ And they were like ‘Sure, do you wanna go out there?’ This is when I had a little more energy on tour, I was a little more ambitious. So we drove a couple of hours to it; that was a really special experience for me. That was one of my major touring expeditions.”

You can’t help looking around for the lost schoolgirls when you’re out there...

“I know what you mean, it’s a fictional film but there’s something real about the energy of the place. That part’s real, that’s what makes you think about the nature of time — that’s heavy.”

Nice segue as we ask about the album title. It holds up.

“As often happens when I come up with an album title, which I did years before I’d had a baby, I think about it for a really long time and ask ‘Well is there anything under the hood?’ I wouldn’t name an album just so people are reminded of Steve Martin. I kicked the tyres on it and it’s quite transitional. It’s a deep phrase, almost biblical, then when I was writing lyrics I thought it was the right mix of silly and deep. That’s exciting for me, that middle ground.”

REVIEW: FATHER OF THE BRIDE - VAMPIRE WEEKEND (SONY)

**** (4 stars)

Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

Ezra Koenig is a kidder. Vampire Weekend opened their 2018 Lollapalooza set with A-Punk three times in a row, just to bait impatient fans. Respect.

He and his fellow Graceland acolytes in Vampire Weekend pumped out three records in five years, all diamonds, then let the VW idle for six years, now they’re gunning it again with an 18-track album (culled from 43) that will satisfy fans and grow their fanbase exponentially.

Hold You Now features Danielle Haim, a quaint country-meets-choir cut that harks back to Haim’s Shania Twain cover. It’s, um, solid.

Whatever they do has the ring of truth to it, a band of gold. Harmony Hall is Arcade Fire kicking it with Neil Young as TV On The Radio makes chai.

Koenig’s understanding of melodies and composition sets him apart from the pack.

He nails the Vampire Weekend brief of making music that’s “both silly and deep” on This Life, an amusing musing on how to age gracefully without becoming a Straighty 180; and How Long, a song built on finger-clicks, tasteful ’70s guitars, a West Coast hip-hop “doiiiing” sample (very Gin and Juice) and lyrics: “You broke my heart at midnight mass now I’m the ghost of Christmas past.”

It’s up with Oxford Comma and Run as their best work, set to make you shudder’n’shake.

Sunflower is the most fun you can have with your plants on, Married In a Gold Rush sees Danielle re-enter as a Sheryl Crow love interest. Fans feeling like their legs are getting DVT get to leap around the room to Sympathy, Koenig is having a blast as he recaptures the lairy ways of his early 20s.

Vampire Weekend may have lost a member and BFF Rostam Batmanglij (who produced their previous albums) but fear not, fervent fan, they’ve still got it.

VERDICT: Vast and vivacious LP of bridal ballads & bangers

HEAR: Father of the Bride (SONY) out now.

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