National - Interview

  by John Clarkson

published: 20 / 7 / 2004

intro

Rising Americana group the National have recently concluded their fourth tour of Europe in 18 months. Frontman Matt Berninger talks to John Clarkson about their new mini-album, 'Cherry Tree'

The National come originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and consists of Matt Berninger (vocals) and two sets of brothers, Aaron (guitar/bass) and Bryce Dessner (guitar) and Scott (bass/guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). All five members of the band relocated to New York for then job-related reasons in the late 90’s, but, as the National has started to take off, have in recent times spent nearly as much time in Europe as they have back home. The band recently completed their fourth European tour in 18 months, which, in line with the group’s widening status, spanned across a three month period and took in dates in Austria, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Britain and extensively in France where they are especially popular. The group, who have been described as creating in their songs, “the uneasy poetry of self-disgust”, have drawn comparisions wih the likes of Tindersticks, the American Music Club and Tom Waits, and share a similar melancholic lushness and tensity in their sound. Matt Beninger’s scorched, gravelly vocals, which dwell obsessively on tortuous romances and long nights spent solitary drinking, meanwhile have drawn likenesses with those of Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash. The National have to date recorded three albums. The first of these, which was called simply ‘The National’, came out in 2001, and, an American release only, was put out on the band’s own Brassneck label. The second, ‘Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers’, a co-release with the French label Talitres, was released to rapturous acclaim in November of last year, and was one of Uncut Magazine’s Albums of the Year. The group’s latest offering, ‘Cherry Tree’, a seven song mini album, which was released again on both Talitres and Brassneck, and which has a slightly more organic sound than either of its predecessors, came out in July. Matt Berninger spoke to Pennyblackmusic about ‘Cherry Tree’ and the National’s rising public profile. PB : ‘Cherrytree’ has followed on very quickly from your last album ‘Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers’. It has been only just over six months between the two. Why did you decide to put out another album so soon ? MB : Well, for various reasons ! I can’t pinpoint exactly when it happened, but we went into the studio and we were recording a lot of new songs. We were about halfway done with what we think is going to be our next full length, but there were a lot of songs that we felt had something of a different personality and fitted more together on their own and so we decided to release those songs together. In some ways that buys us more time as well to work on the new album. We also really wanted to do another record with Talitres, who have been really supportive of us, as we’re not sure at this stage who we’re going to release our next full length with. PB : Will it definitely not be on Talitres ? MB : It might be. We don’t know. We’re in the middle of talking to various different people about things. Talitres is an amazing label, but as far as distribution and stuff like that, there are some other options which we are looking at which might be better for everybody. We loved our French label though and we definitely wanted to make sure that we could release something else with them. We felt that this group of songs worked really together and that not all those songs might make it on to our next full-length because of the function of them. PB : The group has got two sets of brothers in the band. Rock groups with brothers notoriously thrive on tension. What kind of impact has that had on the band ? MB : It has mostly a really positive impact. The brotherly thing definitely does add a bit of tension, but it is the kind of tension that is easy to get over. There’s no threat of it falling apart because they have known each other for so long and because, as they are brothers , there is a special loyalty between them. There is not so much threat of anyone throwing a fit and walking off. PB : It is sometimes said that the best rock music is based on contradictory impulses and your music seems to thrive on these. There is a real decadance to some of your songs which is mixed up with a genuine sense of dignity. Some of the tunes are quite simple but they are also combined with quite sophisticated arrangements. How does the band compose its tunes ? MB : Different songs come together in different ways. Sometimes there is just a guitar part which we start to build around. At other times we jam and we pull songs together that way Our songs do take time to develop. We work hard to turn them into something which is going to be exciting to us down the line,and we spend a lot of time arranging and moving things around. There is a song now that we have had for probably three years and we’re only now starting to figure out how to perform it and to record it. We’re always really patient with each of our songs and give them enough time to grow up. Some happen really fast. Some take more time. We don’t have a particular process or aim when we are writing songs .We just let anything that wants to happen happen. PB : You come orignally from the mid-West and since then you have moved to New York City. How much of an impact has that has on your songwriting ? MB : I don’t know if it has had any. We’re from Cincinnati., and both the Afghan Whigs, and Guided by Voices came from close by. People often ask if that had a big impact on us, and, sure,they are bands that we love. We could have grown up anywhere though and fallen in love with those bands. I don’t think really we have much of a mid-Western foundation and that it has made much difference at all. PB : One of things that seems to be very evident in your songwriting is that there is a real timelessness to it. A lot of what occurs in your narratives and lyrics could happen pretty much any place, any time, anywhere. Is that something which you aim for when you’re writing songs? MB : Yeah, I guess that you could say that there are universal ideas, and universal moments in a lot of our songs. A lot of the songs, not all of them, but a lot of them are about relationships and I guess they are things in a lot of them which everybody can in some way probably identify with. We do have songs about New York City and specific kind of New York moments. Again though I don’t think that it is necessarily focused on New York. They are just about urban moments and could really be about any city. PB : Your songs have been described as being about “booze, women, and the joys and difficulties of both”. Do you think that is a fair assessment ? MB : Yeah, there is a lot of that .One of the reasons why there is a lot of that in the lyrics is because when I am writing lyrics I am usually alone, and drinking and women are often on my mind . I am not on a mission to say anything specific about either of those two things. It’s just when I am in songwriting mood and alone those are the things that are frequently in my head. PB : One of the songs on ‘Cherry Tree’ is ‘All the Wine’. What was that about ? MB : ’All the Wine’ is about being drunk in the city and being happy in an obsessive, really euphoric way. Musically it has a darker mood, but it is really just about being high. PB : What about ‘All Dolled Up in Straps’ which is also on the album? MB : That song is a classic jealousy song. It is about wondering why your girlfriend has come home late, and being jealous about it. The title ‘All Dolled Up in Straps’ also hints at the dark stuff that sometimes go on in your head, and how it can get all tangled up and confused. PB : You have put a live version of ‘Murder Me Rachael’ on ‘Cherry Tree’, which was also one of the songs on ‘Sad Songs and Dirty Lovers’. Why did you decide to do that ? Was it because simply that that live version fitted in with the mood and the personality of the other songs on the rest of the album ? MB : Yes, that was one of the reasons. We recorded it at a ‘Black Session’’ in France and we just had an amazing time that night. There is an energy behind that recording which we thought was really fun and exciting and we wanted as well as a result to put a part of that night out. It serves as a bridge between ‘Cherry Tree’ and Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers’’ as well. PB : All three albums have come out on your own label, Brassneck, back home. When did you form that ? MB : Aaron and Bryce started that label. They started it with Alec Beamish, who is a friend of theirs from school, a couple of years ago. I am not involved directly with it, but it’s been a great thing because it has enabled us to get our records out and also has given us total control. We have been able to do things at our own pace. We have all invested our own money in it , which has been exciting, because, while it was originally designed for our own purposes,we have now gone on to sign other acts as well, but, having said that, we don’t really want to be in the business of running our own label. That’s not really the end goal. The end goal is that it has been simply a vehicle for us to get our records out. PB : To pick up on your own point of moving from Talitres to possibly something else , do you hope to do the same with Brassneck in the States as well ? MB : Yes. We don’t want to focus on that side of the business. We have had to do that for a while, but we want someone else to take care of that now , so that we can focus more on the songwriting. PB : The National have done very well in Europe , and especially in France. You have done four European tours in the space of the last 18 months. You have a bigger audience in Europe than you do back home. Why do you think you have been so successful over here ? MB : I am not really sure. We have been very lucky in that we have had a lot of champions in Paris. Bruno Beyoin, who writes for 'The Liberation', was one of the first people who got behind us. ‘Uncut’ magazine has also really got behind us. I don’t know why it has happened in Europe first. People often ask if our music more European than American, and I don’t really know. We are now, however beginning to make an impact in some of the bigger cities in the US. Our idea has been to tour as much as we can in Europe but I think we’ll now probably go back and, now that things are beginning to happen in the US, to finish the new record off and to spend more time in the States and touring there . PB : When do you hope to put the new album out ? MB : We’re shooting to finish the album in September. It all depends on who releases it, but I would say that the new album will probably not be out until February at the earliest. or maybe Spring. It will probably be quite a while yet which was another reason why we wanted to put this mini album out. We didn’t want to wait too long. PB : Do you hope to be back in Europe before long ? MB : If all goes well with finishing the new record, we’ll probably be over in the Spring again when that is released. PB : Thank you The photographs that accompany this article were taken Laurent Orseau and originally appeared on the website www.hinah.com

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