“To have this life and that life, there’s not a lot of people I can think of that I can go, ‘Oh, I like how that person is doing this thing of having a family and being an artist,’ and it looks like something I really want.

“You know, you don’t see VH1 ‘Behind the Music’ and see a story of a really successful group that also has a really successful personal life, and such a rich kindness, grace and love, and that’s the end of the story,” Willett says, laughing. “How boring would that be? It just never goes that way. There is a reason.”

Same but different

“Cold War Kids,” the new album, reflects the maturity of a band, and in Willett, a songwriter, that has worked to balance life and work.

The album opener, “Double Life,” finds him singing about gender roles in a family, a reflection of his understanding of the sacrifice his wife makes when he’s on the road, and the work he wants to embrace when he’s home with their children.

“Another Name,” one of Willett’s favorites on the record, is a different kind of breakup song, written after his therapist of many years told him she was leaving her practice and would no longer be able to see him.

“Runaway With Me” is a joyful soul-funk number with a huge chorus, a song that Willett says incorporates influences such as Sly Stone and David Bowie, while not losing its essential Cold War Kids-ness.

The album was made with the intention of shaking things up in the studio, he says. Longtime producer Lars Stalfors stepped aside as Willett sought out a variety of different producers from different backgrounds and genres.

He also slowed down the pace at which the band has worked, taking time to make one of the band’s most cohesive albums yet.

“I like to move fast and I like to keep music coming,” Willett says. “I think I’ve always resisted being the kind of artist that has three years between records, and he’s always kind of trying to paint your masterpiece. I realized pretty early on that I don’t have an ‘OK Computer’ [the classic Radiohead album] in me. I don’t think that’s going to come out.”

The eclectic team of producers Willett pulled into the studio included Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, M83), Ethan Grushka (Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer), Jenn Decilveo (Miley Cyrus, Hozier) and Malay (Frank Ocean, Lorde).

“I wanted to find these people that were not necessarily known for this genre or that, but had worked on records that I really liked,” Willett says. “A lot of that for me was just going, OK, good, and having to go in with a producer like Malay, who’s done Frank Ocean and stuff that I put on the highest shelf, and feel like I’m going to get the best from him and I don’t have to be afraid it’s going to be something that isn’t right for Cold War Kids.”

“Knowing that we haven’t done these kinds of things before, and that it’s very new sonically, that’s the stuff that makes this really exciting and surprising,” he says. “Like, wow, there’s still ways to make songs that I can feel that first feeling again.”

Cold War Kids

When: March 20-21 and March 23

Where: March 20-21 at the Fonda Theatre, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. March 23 at Pappy & Harriett’s 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown

For more: See Coldwarkids.com

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