On The Intimacy Of Tension In Creating A Musical Beast

The National

It's been 16 years since critically acclaimed American indie rock band The National released their first record, and six albums later they're sounding stronger than ever. However, Dessner says this level of success wasn't something any of them ever imagined they would reach. "It wasn't our intent when we started the band to be some big rock band," he says. "I think we were mainly just enjoying making music and hanging out together, and we were already friends and family. We're all very thankful, but it's a fragile democracy, and everyone has different things that they want out of life, and we live in different places all over the world now, so the fact that we still do this, and do it well, is definitely unique. I think nobody takes it for granted."

As for the new record, he says the band had more time than usual to experiment with the writing and production. "It's been four years since the last one, so there was a deeper level of experimentation, and we went to greater lengths to be inspired. We built a studio on my property in upstate New York and specifically designed it for how we wanted it to work. It was a really fun experience, and I think what came out of it is something in a special, new chapter for the band."

In particular, Dessner (along with his brother and fellow band member Bryce) spent time collaborating in Berlin as part of a residency at an old East German radio campus called the Funkhaus. "We sort of had an open studio there, where there were over a hundred musicians. People would just come through, and anyone could plug in. There was a lot of raw experimentation; we weren't really telling people the chords, or anything about the songs. We collected a lot of wonderful experiments from there, or just interesting audio, stuff that's not necessarily sympathetic to the songs. If you listen closely you'll hear static, or white noise, or some sort of audio processing. A lot of that stuff happened in Berlin, and I think it opened up another dimension to the record."

The band's experimentation didn't stop there, and Dessner says you can hear the band members trying out ideas throughout the album on songs like Walk It Back, which features a sample of a speech about making history. "Those are voices that we recorded and pitch-shifted and messed with," Dessner explains, "but the actual quote is something this Republican strategist Karl Rove had said, I think several years ago during the George W Bush administration. I think Matt [Berninger - the band's vocalist] found that in an article or a book that he was reading, and something about it just felt... he was very struck by it, and it felt weirdly like it had some sort of context in the song."

When asked about the song's meaning, Dessner is hesitant to offer an interpretation. "I think Matt sometimes thinks from a wider perspective in terms of his songwriting. He's not a heavy-handed narrative songwriter, but you can always glean quite a bit of meaning and see yourself in his songs. I think that's what other people do when they listen, and that's kind of the beauty of it. Like, it's easy to empathise with the characters, and I never feel that he's undermined the music or not made it better somehow - I think that's kind of a magical thing to really feel like we make each other better."

He says that once Berninger wrote the lyrics for the album-closer and title track, Sleep Well Beast, the album came into focus. "For me, it feels like this intimate recognition of the tension in all relationships, whether they're romantic relationships, friendships, or within the band, of like 'I love you, but I might harm you,' you know, 'this is a fragile thing we need to take care of.' But at the same time, there's something also broader in there, where it's like maybe the beast relates not just to your loved one or the band or something, but it also relates to American youth; with the Republican leadership so many people are being left behind, or being put at a disadvantage, or having their rights taken away, and I feel like someday everyone's going to wake up and be like, 'This is not right.' But for me it mainly represents the tension in relationships, and the fragility of relationships, and striving to be a good friend, or a good father, or a good husband."

The resulting record is an immersive experience that stands as one of the band's most diverse efforts to date, and Dessner finishes the conversation by adding that he's looking forward to allowing the songs to disintegrate and drift into further experimental territory when they play in Australia early next year.