What does the song means? That phrase [“We all die young”] coming from old people versus coming from a kid has a different meaning and resonance. It’s a celebration of our own mortality—of dying young, if you can manage it, and avoiding the horrors of modern life and adulthood.

Kornhaber: That’s one of many moments where the music is perky but the lyrics aren’t. How much irony are we supposed to hear?

Meloy: Plenty. We trade in a pop tradition that goes back to the Beatles, marrying really dour subject matter with upbeat chords and melodies. That’s the music I was raised on: Morrissey’s mewling over beautiful, peppy Johnny Marr guitar parts. That tends to find its way into the songs even on my most upbeat days. The cloud that’s been hovering over me—and hovering over everybody—has made the darker side even darker, and the peppier side even more of a wide, manic grin.

Kornhaber: I saw you called the album an “apocalyptic dance party,” which feels like a term that could describe a lot of albums lately.

Meloy: We’re having a very shared experience. It’s almost galvanizing, people coming out of the woodwork and saying, “Shit is fucked up.” There’s something therapeutic in looking at the apocalypse and laughing.

I was hearing a story about that incident in Hawaii when a false missile alert came down. There were a couple guys on a golf course whose phones went off at the same time, and they went through how much time they had, where they could go, what they could actually accomplish. And they came to the conclusion that the best thing they could do is continue playing golf. There was nothing else they could do. That, in some ways, is a shared experience in this country right now.

Kornhaber: That story sounds like a future Decemberists song topic. But there’s a capitulation in it, right?

Meloy: Obviously the golfers in Hawaii is not analogous to our current predicament. It is a thought experiment: The apocalypse is 10 minutes away; what really can you do? If you want to talk literally, I don’t think we are in that dire circumstances. Responding to that intuition to shout out that things are broken is some way forward. We’re not leading the charge, but it feels good to lend our voices to that ever-growing chorus of people who are saying, This is not right.

Kornhaber: How much do you want this read as a Trump album?

Meloy: I don’t think I set out to make an overtly topical or political record. The songs just came from where we were and where my head was at in the last year and a half. I didn’t want to go too over-the-top. For one thing, I don’t know that I feel like the white straight-male voice is really the voice that needs to be amplified right now, or necessarily be the one singing protest music. There is powerful and topical music to be made by those communities who are oppressed. I don’t think it’s necessarily my place. That said, you can’t help but have some of that stuff just come through the cracks as you’re working.