That's all from Matt ...
Bethniest asks:
Hi Matt! Cyrano was one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Any chance those songs are going to come out as a record?
MynameisRia asks:
What song are you now listening to on repeat? Are you the type of person that listens to songs on repeat? That one person that has listened to One More Second for 1,203 times on Spotify is me.
I've been a big fan of Taylor Swift's for a long time
laurasnapes asks:
Did Taylor Swift’s melodic responses to Aaron’s music make you hear his work, which you’re so familiar with, differently at all? Did it open up paths and potential that might feed back into your National work in future?
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dimlocator asks:
What’s your favourite Bad Seeds record and why?
AlfonsoC asks:
Hi, Matt! Could you talk about your favourite books, the ones that have inspired you and perhaps will continue to do so ...
blitzen asks:
Hi Matt - how is your brother and his film-making? Mistaken for Strangers was such an amazing documentary.
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I want my daughter to listen to the Smiths. I don't want her to pay attention to what Morrissey says now.
djdazz asks:
Hi Matt, we are about the same age, with many of the same formative influences. The reception of all art changes over time, but I’m wondering how you reconcile your love of the Smiths with Morrissey’s recent political dalliances. Of course, I want to trust the art rather than artist, but sometimes it’s not easy. Your thoughts on the issue would be greatly appreciated!
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Mazzini asks:
Hi Matt. Any plans post-Covid to visit Cambridge and dine at Vanderlyle? I believe they approached you for permission to use the name for their restaurant.
Words for me are these amazing Legos
Sydrock01 asks:
Hi Matt! Serpentine Prison and the entire boxer album has been on repeat for weeks, and the other albums years! I was wondering how you come up with such peculiar but fittingly perfect words? You are the best lyricist I have ever heard! “Anonymous castrations” for example, what allowed you to put such words together? Thanks! - Sydney. Whoops! I meant “anonymous castrati”
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Bringing everyone into the studio with Booker T Jones was such a dream come true
KellyLynch23 asks:
Hi Matt! Congratulations on your album! What have you enjoyed most about the process of this particular album?
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cedwards28 asks:
I discovered The National through High Violet, a now-favourite record of mine. How do you reflect on the album and its sound, a decade on from its release? Congrats on the new record!
Matt’s with us now, dialling in from Los Angeles, where it’s 8am and the scene presumably looks something like this ...
The National are not a band inclined to give themselves a break. Look, they were planning to after 2017’s Sleep Well Beast, but then director Mike Mills approached them about making a movie, and so last year’s I Am Easy to Find was born. No sooner were they off tour than guitarist Bryce Dessner was doing big things with European orchestras, drummer Bryan Devendorf was releasing a surprise solo album, instrumentalist Aaron Dessner was making a surprise album with Taylor Swift and the whole lot of them were working on a musical adaptation of Cyrano De Bergerac. You don’t get the impression any of them have had time to ruminate over a sourdough starter this year.
Next up on the band’s extracurricular slate is Serpentine Prison, the official debut solo album from frontman Matt Berninger. (He has broken away from the band before – in 2015, he released Return to the Moon as half of El Vy with Menomena’s Brent Knopf, who is among the new album’s many guests.) Berninger had long wanted to make a record like Willie Nelson’s covers album Stardust, and asked Booker T Jones if he would help him make it happen. Along the way, some original demos slipped in and reshaped the project, relegating the covers to a bonus disc. The result is more soulful and spacious than much of his work in his day job, and will be released into the world on Friday 16 October.
You can ask Berninger about his new album, being temporarily displaced by Taylor Swift in the National, his enduring love of Nick Cave, his creative outlook, the in-the-works TV adaptation of Mistaken for Strangers – the documentary that traced the relationship between Matt and his brother Tom – and anything else you like (as a long-time National fan, I can vouch for Berninger’s excellent book recommendations) when he joins us for a virtual webchat at 4pm BST (please note – this is not our usual UK lunchtime slot, owing to the transatlantic time difference) on Tuesday 13 October. Until then, enjoy his excellent dance moves in his latest video.
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