The National’s Matt Berninger on the Music That Made Him

The Pitchfork Review

Pitchfork

Music, Music Commentary, Music Interviews, Music History

3.3 • 844 Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Next month, Matt Berninger of The National will release Serpentine Prison, his first solo album, produced by the legendary Memphis multi-instrumentalist Booker T. Jones. On this episode, Berninger chats with Pitchfork Staff Writer Sam Sodomsky about the songs that shaped him as a musician and informed the new album, touching on his childhood infatuation with Olivia Newton-John, The Smiths and U2 records he blasted while getting pelted with golf balls at his first job, and The National’s early aspirations to emulate the Silver Jews.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Pitchfork Review.
0:04.4	I'm Puget Patel, the editor of Pitchfork.
0:07.8	On today's episode, we'll be talking to Matt Bermaninger.
0:10.9	He's the musician best known as the frontman of The National, and he's coming out with
0:14.9	his first solo album next month.
0:17.1	It's called Serpentine Prison and was produced by Booker T. Jones, the legendary Memphis
0:21.5	R&B and soul musician, songwriter, and record producer.
0:25.7	Matt sat down with our staff writer Sam Sadomsky to talk about the songs that shaped him as a musician
0:30.6	throughout his life.
0:32.2	In their interview, he gets into the records his parents owned when he was a child, one of his
0:36.3	first jobs at a driving range,
0:38.1	and writing his early albums with The National. Let's hear it. Where are you calling from? Where are you at
0:44.5	right now? Venice, California. This is my office. I'm trying to get this. Can I change my lighting?
0:51.7	Hold on. Yeah, sure. You do you. I was distracted by the
0:54.9	beams of light. Well, it's a cool vibe there. How are things in Venice right now?
1:00.6	They are, you know, strange and gloomy. But Venice, I'm very lucky.
1:12.6	I love this neighborhood.
1:14.4	You know, I can ride my bike to the beach.
1:16.3	I spend a lot of time in the backyard, and we have a trampoline and all that kind of stuff.
1:20.1	So, yeah, I feel really, really lucky to be in this type of a neighborhood during this type of a situation.
1:26.9	Well, yeah, well, congrats on the new record.
1:29.9	It's just, I don't know, I'm so familiar with, like, your catalog
	...

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