🎧 Vampire Weekend (Song Exploder)
In this episode, Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend takes “Harmony Hall” apart. I spoke to him along with producer Ariel Rechtshaid, and the two of them detailed winding path the song went down, over several years, before it finally took shape.
I am always fascinated with the journey of songs, especially that Ezra Koenig planted the seed in a recording on his phone in 2011. I was reminded of Robyn discussing how she spends hours riffing on melodies, in the same way Koenig discusses trying different variations of the chord sequeence over time to find the right sound and rhythm to work with. I also like how sometimes it takes a fresh set of ears to put the pieces together. In this case it was producer Ariel Rechtshaid.