Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig on growing up and choosing optimism

For millions of indie rock fans, Vampire Weekend's music was the soundtrack to their youth in the mid-'00s.

The band found huge success after releasing their first three albums in rapid succession, but then, lead singer Ezra Koenig decided to slow things down and take longer breaks in between. Now, Vampire Weekend has released their fifth album, Only God Was Above Us, which reflects on the changes that can occur as you transition from youth into adulthood.

In a conversation with Q's Tom Power, Koenig, who celebrated his 40th birthday earlier this year, says he feels like he's entered "true adulthood" now. Not only is he a father, but he also has a different perspective on life than when he first started the band nearly 20 years ago.

"I think I've been pretty cynical and negative my whole life," Koenig says. "It's very easy to move towards a cynical, negative worldview. And frankly, I think that in my younger days, I just didn't know any other way."

While Koenig admits there's good reason to be cynical these days, he thinks "one of the major challenges of any life" is figuring out how you want to approach the world. After meeting his wife, actor Rashida Jones, he started developing his spiritual side.

"I don't think I'd ever met somebody until my wife who seemed to take aspects of religion seriously," he says. "Being exposed to some of the oldest ideas about dealing with a broken world — understanding those aspects of reality — is just something I'd never taken seriously, although I had been drawn, like many songwriters before me, to the rich language of mysticism and spirituality; I hesitate to say religion, it's such a trigger word for people."

For Koenig, growing up meant choosing optimism and realizing that spirituality wasn't a binary set of beliefs that you either adhere to or not. He says raising his young son has made him think more deeply about some of life's bigger questions.

"We kind of look back and say, 'When I was a kid, everything was easy,'" Koenig says. "But one thing about kids, they ask really big, profound questions. In some ways, those are the times where I questioned the nature of reality the most…. There's something pleasant about returning to those big questions because they really can provide an anchor when you face the daily turmoil."

The full interview with Ezra Koenig is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. He also talks about the early days of Vampire Weekend, his onstage cover of Eminem's Lose Yourself, and what it's like having the legendary Quincy Jones for a father-in-law. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Ezra Koenig produced by Mitch Pollock.