matt berninger
Taylor Swift’s Evermore Is an Undeniable Folk-Pop Masterpiece
Somehow. Somehow, as the most psychologically daunting year of our lives refuses to loosen its grip, Taylor Swift continues to create with abandon, relentlessly surprising a fan base that hangs on her every tweet and emoji. Somehow, the pop monolith has done it almost entirely in isolation, sharing heaps of digital files with her latest songwriting soulmate, The National’s Aaron Dessner (as well as long-favored collaborator Jack Antonoff), and remotely patching together some three-dozen fully realized tracks from a makeshift home studio. Somehow, she’s polished off two career-redefining projects in five months. And somehow, despite the mastery and universal acclaim of July’s Folklore, its new sister album, Friday’s Evermore, is even stronger. Released two days befor...
Matt Berninger Performs ‘Serpentine Prison’ Songs on CBS This Morning: Watch
The National’s Matt Berninger released his debut solo album Serpentine Prison yesterday and celebrated by performing three of its tracks on CBS This Morning’s “Saturday Sessions.” The singer and his backing band played the album’s title track, along with “One More Second” and “Collar Of Your Shirt,” live from their studio. Watch all three performances below. [embedded content] [embedded content] [embedded content] Berninger worked with Booker T. Jones on Serpentine Prison and originally went into the project hoping to make a covers album before sharing “orphan songs” with the famed producer. “It didn’t start out as a solo thing. It started out as, I wanted to do a bunch of covers just to learn how to sing better, and I wanted to work with [producer] Booker T. Jones,” B...
Matt Berninger Debuts ‘One More Second’ Video During Livestream
In advance of his upcoming debut solo effort, Serptine Prison, due Oct. 16, The National singer Matt Berninger will debut the video for “One More Second” in a livestream today (Sept. 23). Berninger will host an online cocktail hour—dubbed Cocktail Seconds with Matt Berninger — along with special guests video director Chris Sgroi and his actor/director brother, Tom Berninger, discussing the making of the video. The video itself features in a studio, some live footage and shows off some snazzy dance moves in the process. Check it out below that conversation and the video below. [embedded content] [embedded content] “I wrote ‘One More Second’ with Matt Sheehy (Lost Lander, EL VY) with the intention for it to be a kind of answer to Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Lo...
The National’s Matt Berninger Shares Latest Solo Song ‘One More Second’
Matt Berninger has released “One More Second,” the latest single from his upcoming debut solo album Serpentine Prison. The acoustic guitar-driven ballad is the conversation a couple has when they’re going through the good, bad and sometimes frustrating parts of a relationship — something that The National frontman wanted to accomplish on the tune. “I wrote ‘One More Second’ with Matt Sheehy (Lost Lander, EL VY) with the intention for it to be a kind of answer to Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You,’ or sort of the other side of that conversation,” Berninger said in a statement. “I just wanted to write one of those classic, simple, desperate love songs that sound great in your car.” Berninger previously released the title track in April and “Distant Axis” in July. It was a coll...
Matt Berninger Rolls Around in New Solo Video for ‘Distant Axis’
With the COVID-19 pandemic stopping concerts, festivals and any other public gathering, musicians have had to get creative with how they make new videos. The National’s Matt Berninger took this into account while filming his new video for “Distant Axis.” The video shows him walking to a makeshift set to film the visual with his brother and co-director Tom Berninger and Chris Sgroi. With a huge sheet of a green screen on the ground, Berninger sits in a swivel chair spinning around and rolling on the ground as random objects — including wigs, a Magic 8-Ball and a Hillary Clinton doll — are thrown at him. “Distant Axis” was a collaboration between Berninger and Walter Martin of The Walkmen. The two also worked on “Quarantine Boogie (Loco),” which dropped in April. “I met Walter Martin fifteen...
