After a debut album that saw them become the hottest thing in Ralph Lauren loafers, all eyes were on what Vampire Weekend did next.

This month, the New York quartet unveiled its second collection of immaculate pop Contra, beginning what’s sure to be a heady 2010. FasterLouder met the Vampire Weekend boys in Sydney on their fly-by promo tour last November.

The sound you’ve adopted on the second album differs from the first, aiming more towards Latin musical styles. How did that particular sound come about when planning this record?
One thing that we said when we were planning out this record is that we should not repeat ourselves. So we all thought that if we had approached this album the same way we approached the first one, it’d just end up being a watered-down version of it.

In terms of the Latin rhythms, the first one had quite a lot of reggaeton and other styles. But I think on this record in particular it’s a lot more up-front.

Part of the writing and recording process was done in Mexico, or so I hear. Did this add to the Latin sensibilities of the record?
That shouldn’t be overstated. That was just a few shows booked between recording and it worked like kind of our break in recording, because we’d been recording in New York for a month or two, then we had the show in Mexico on Friday and Saturday. So we were able to take this four-day break there. The only song we actually recorded there was Cousins. And even though it has a Latin feel, it was just a case of that one being one we had just finished fully arranging.

To launch the record you’re currently on a whirlwind promotional tour, playing small clubs wherever you go. How has this near-pop-star experience been so far?
I think it’s good because we’re playing six out of the ten songs on the new album right now. And that’s good for us to get our confidence and get our feet before we go on our own tour and bigger shows. And also because they’re smaller, usually the people who come to our shows are like – œsuper-fans’; people who have been checking up on us constantly on the internet and stuff. It’s been a lot of fun. Pretty much every show we’ve done so far has been excellent.

You have quite a gap between the mastering and completion of your record, which happened a few weeks ago, to when it will be released, in January. Why such a vast gap?
We were trying, originally, to get it done so that it could be released during the American fall. But then it took its time to actually finish. I think having a couple of months between handing it in and coming here and everywhere else where people are excited. And also just take November off, being holidays and all.

You also just don’t release stuff in the winter, unless you’re bankrolling the next Billy Joel Greatest Hits. To me, the last record came out in January, so for this one to come out around the same time feels comfortable and right for us.

Some of the more general complaints handed to Vampire Weekend including imitating world music traditions and emphasising looks over substance. What do you say to your critics?
I think we would never claim to play world music. I think we like and listen to and take inspiration from music from around the world, but we don’t play an African music at all. If we did that, I’d agree with that criticism. But in the end we make Vampire Weekend music. It comes from a very genuine place. Just like we learn to not take the positive stuff too seriously, we also don’t take the negative stuff too seriously either.

Funny; the first time we were on this blog, Brooklyn Vegan, they gave us this almost-hilarious review. The comments that appear on this site are absolute shit-suckers. But a lot of the criticism is about things that aren’t true and are perceived. Like the fact that we wear sweaters, we’re given flack for the class issues that a lot of Americans have or their sense of music. Like, if we’re not wearing a leather jacket, we have no right to be in existence.

So you’re not fazed by the – œpreppy’ calls just because you don’t look like either The Clash or The Ramones?
Well, I love The Clash and The Ramones. The Clash in particular, have a really…well…they were called a punk band generally but they had a bit of reggaeton, hip-hop, some very pop stuff. But those calls don’t bother me at all. I just find it hilarious when people call us – œpreppy’, cause that means absolutely nothing to me.

I think we just have a very strong visual to our band. I think when you start out you just have to consider when you wear something or put a song out or put a video out.

On that visual aesthetic, you deliver a very bold strong visual in everything you do, from your cover artwork to the very Wes Anderson-feel of the Oxford Comma video. How did the visuals behind the band come together?
I think that with the Oxford Comma video, they think Wes Anderson specifically because of the font. I think it’s more a Godard-ish. That was just an idea Ezra had. It was very big, the idea of having one long shot on a green field.

But yeah, the creation of the visuals is not too over-thought, but we completely understand that being a band is not just a musical format. People come to your shows, people look at your album covers, people watch your videos. The visuals aren’t always at the forefront, but that album cover [for Contra ]. We found that picture back in April, well before all the songs were written. And that image, it seemed to solidify the concept of the album and seems to connect in all for us.

Another thing is both covers are Polaroids, just that one was taken in 2006 and one was taken in 1983, but they have the same kind of saturation.

You mentioned earlier about keeping your music genuine and also approaching this record differently than your last. In what was did you make this happen?
Well, with the first record all the songs came together with the four of us playing our songs live, because you had to write songs to get shows, more than anything. This time we had more of a luxury to do what we wanted to do. More months, more weeks, more days…Wait, that’s the other way around!

Songs like I Think You’re a Contra and Taxicab were developed a lot more in the studio, as they’re a lot slower and have more of a dynamic range. Each song started off a different way this time. Like Horchata started with just the lyric, “In December drinking Horchata”. This album, I find, has a different form of variation in songs than the first. There’s no one way that we go about writing our songs.

Contra is out now on XL Recordings through Remote Control Records.