ACL Music Festival Artist Interview: The National

Matt Berninger's vocal style has been talked about quite a bit. Having never spoken to him, we wonder if his "style" is his natural voice, or if he actually makes an effort to sing in this wonderfully morose style?

You're talking to me now. I really don't know whether I make an effort to sing the way I do or its just the way I sound. I never really practiced and I think I'm still learning to sing. It's just they way things come out.

We've also read that there is no general process within the band when it comes to writing lyrics, and that you prefer to mix and match randomly written lyrics and music to obtain the final product. Care to elaborate on this rather unique process?

I write down a lot of stuff but only end up using about 5% of it. I put my headphones on and listen to the music sketches the other guys give me and just write bits and pieces. It takes me forever to pull together the final lyrics to a song. Most of what I write down I hate but I don't start editing and making connections until very late in the process. Most of the time I'm trying to avoid bad lyrics, than trying to write good ones.

What can you tell us about the label, Brassland, run by the Dessners (and Alec Hanley Bemis) and its mission? What is some of the talent currently on board?

It was originally founded to release our first few records and Clogs records because we had no other options. It has grown into something much more interesting with artists like Doveman, Baby Dayliner, Devastations, Pela, Eric Friedlander, Vojtech and Irena Havel and Peter Pears. It's eclectic.

How did the collaborations with Padma Newsome and Sufjan Stevens originate, and what role do they play on the band's recordings?

We've worked with Padma for years. He's the man behind Clogs, Bryce's neo-chamber music quartet. He's worked with us going all the way back to Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers. Sufjan lives in the neighborhood and Bryce occasionally plays in his touring band, wings and all. He came over one day and played grand piano on a couple songs. You can hear him on “Ada” and “Racing Like a Pro”.

Mathieu Saura is working on a "movie project" about the band. What can we expect?

Mathieu (a.k.a. Vincent Moon) spent some time with us touring and in the studio while we were working on Boxer. It's not exactly a feature film and not really a documentary. He caught us in a particularly tense period when we didn't really know what we were doing and were starting to lose our minds a bit. This always happens to us when we're in the middle of writing a record. I think he was trying to portray what it's like to make a record and tour without talking about it. Just by being in the room. There aren't many talking heads shots.

We witnessed an excellent National show at the Parish in Austin a couple of years ago. What are your thoughts on the city of Austin and playing the upcoming Austin City Limits Music Festival?

I really like Austin but I've only been there during SXSW so I don't think I've ever gotten an accurate impression of the city. I'm looking forward to seeing the real thing.

The National: [official site] [myspace]

Appearing at the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival on Sunday, September 16th at 1:30 p.m. on the AT&T blue room Stage.

Image courtesy of The National’s MySpace, Author Unknown.