
Music Interviews Vampire Weekend: 'Modern Vampires of the City' And The End Of An Era But then, I actually changed it to "questioning," which I think is better for the song. The first song we put out, "Harmony Hall," had this part that went,"I thought that I was free from all that suffering." Almost like a Buddhist way of thinking: You think you've finally figured out a way to be free from suffering, but of course, life is a cycle. It's interesting that you bring up the word "suffering," because at some point, I realized that three of the songs had the word "suffering" in the chorus. That always just made a lot of sense to me - especially if you're trying to kind of create a snapshot of life as you know it, that every song would have a mixture of joy and pain.


On this album, the song that made me think of that was "This Life." Not just because the word "suffering" is in it - I think this is a good example of that cheeriness that isn't really matched lyrically.Įzra Koenig: Growing up, I always liked artists like The Smiths and The Cure: They have some very upbeat, cheerful songs, but it's such a contrast with the lyrics. Audie Cornish: I think of your music, in terms of some of the later albums, as being bittersweet in a way: cheerfully narrating a fair amount of pain.
