Today we're kicking off a two-part series of interviews with members of the National,

who just released their ninth album called First Two Pages of Frankenstein.

Today's conversation is with Aaron Desner, the National's guitarist and oftentimes lead

composer. Outside of the national, Aaron is also a prolific producer, having worked with

a slew of artists including most famously Taylor Swift. During the pandemic, Desner and Swift

teamed up to write music that would eventually become Taylor's critically acclaimed indie

leaning albums, folklore, and evermore. Desner also has a side project with Bonnie

Vare's Justin Vernon called Big Red Machine that features collaborations with artists including

Anias Mitchell and Sharon Van Etten. On today's episode, Broken Record Producer Leah Rose

talks to Aaron Desner about how an invitation to open an arena tour for Bonnie Vare led to him

writing the music that he would eventually share with Taylor Swift. Aaron also talks about

how the national almost came to a breaking point after a grueling tour schedule, and he

opens up about his battle with depression as a teenager and how his twin brother Bryce

carried him through.

This is Broken Record. Liner notes for the digital age. I'm Justin Mischman. Here's Leah Rose

with Aaron Desner. I want to ask you about all your solo work and you have been so prolific

as a producer, as a songwriter, as a composer. But let's start by talking about the new

national album. So tell me the story of the first two pages of Frankenstein.

Well, yes. So the first two pages of Frankenstein is the national's ninth record. It's a nice

feeling to have made a record that I think is the best thing we've made, even though I know

artists always say that. But in this case, I really do feel that it somehow is a distillation

of everything we've done. Or somehow it reminds me of some of our earliest work and also some

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