Years ago, I started thinking about how all the imagery for tents is always against this white background, which I love because it’s so de-contextualized from where you’d actually use a tent. I just thought this one was a really beautiful tent, and the fact that it is so techy and futuristic and yet it’s made to do one of the oldest things that humans do: survive out in nature. I like that kind of interplay.

At some point North Face was cool enough to send us a tent, and we were planning on using it in the video for “Harmony Hall,” but I couldn’t quite figure out what to do with it. Sometimes you have those feelings like, We need to get this tent, and then you get it, and then it’s like, I don’t know. I’ve never really been camping in my life.

My mom was a therapist, and when I was 11 my dad helped her make a tape to play at a party for this family therapy institute that she was part of. It was interesting to me because how often do you see your parents put their heads together? I watched them talk about what songs in their record collection had to do with family dynamics and interpersonal relationships, and the only two that I can remember that were definitely on the tape were “We’re a Happy Family” by the Ramones and “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly.” We had a family discussion about what the song’s about, and that the joke is that they’re not exactly a happy family. In the song, they’re giving all these details about family problems—people being on drugs, all these things. They’re ribbing each other but they’re also saying “I love you” all the same. And in the discussion, my parents were saying what they thought constituted good songwriting. That makes a big impression on you when you’re a kid—especially when you grow up to be a songwriter.

Pitchfork: It’s also a love song. You don’t have a history of writing too many of those, but this album does have a few. “Stranger” comes to mind as what a Vampire Weekend love song really could be.

With a song like “Stranger,” even the name of it compared to “Oxford Comma” or “Mansard Roof”—it’s inexpensive. No expensive words. I still always want there to be text and subtext and sub-subtext. But I can give you a pretty straightforward definition of what that song means: It’s about when you’re in a house and you hear other people having a good time and you don’t feel left out because you have a sense of belonging. That’s something you don’t always feel when you’re younger.

I could actually say that that song takes place in a house, the singer’s in a room, and not in the same room as the other people. It’s as simple as that. In terms of an approach to songwriting, that kind of stuff felt exciting and fresh and different to me.