Bryce Dessner of The National says new album is “culmination of everything we’ve learned”
In a recent interview, The National reflected on their two decades on the road and explained how their past impacted their new album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein. The record will hit shelves on Friday, April 28th, and boasts guest appearances from Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift.
The National revealed that, after 20 years of touring, they were close to throwing in the towel amid the Covid-19 pressures. Beyond the pandemic’s touring restrictions, Matt Berninger had reached a creative block, and the Cincinnati-based band was fraying at the seams.
“I think our relationships had become largely focused on the work on the music, but we’d lost track of each other,” guitarist Bryce Dessner told the NME. “We’ve said that things felt fragile before, but I think this time was different. I think it was quite real, and I think that it was actually necessary. We needed to let it go and accept the possibility that it would end.”
Meanwhile, his twin, Aaron Dessner, always believed the group would find a way to regroup, even though by the end of the tour in support of 2019’s I Am Easy To Find, they had hit all the “rock ‘n’ roll clichés” of 20 years of playing together.
“There’s a weird thing about The National; it’s just an evergreen, creative organism that just won’t die,” Aaron continued. “Eventually, no matter how far away we go from it, there’s the centre of gravity that pulls you back.”
Later, Bryce reflected on Berninger’s writing block. “He found he was writing about things that aren’t all that important anymore,” he explained. “Matt was not doing well and was blocked, but I think at a certain point we also started to question, ‘Well, maybe there’s no room for him here. Maybe these songs are too confident'”.
Bryce described how First Two Pages of Frankenstein feels like the band had rejoined the tracks and summed up a successful two decades in the game. “Our fans debate, a lot of like, ‘Why does it sound like this? Or why is this kind of song? Why that kind of song here? Why not this?’ And the truth is like this is exactly what we wanted to make. And there’s a lot of intention in it”.
He concluded: “This record to me – and to all of us – feels like the culmination of everything we’ve learned. Aesthetically, we are really proud of where it sits. We sound more like ourselves maybe than we did in recent times”.
Listen to ‘Eucalyptus’, a single from the forthcoming album, below.
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