Matt Berninger
Matt Berninger
Matthew Donald Berninger, known as Matt Berningeris a Cincinnati native, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, primarily known as the frontman of indie rock band The National. In 2014 he formed the EL VY project with Brent Knopf of Menomena and released the album Return to the Moon in November 2015...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth13 February 1971
CityCincinnati, OH
CountryUnited States of America
song writing editing
When I have just sat down and tried to write the lyrics of a song, usually about half of it sounds like bullshit. I just have to go away from something and come back to it again later. I do a lot of editing and switching around and putting little pieces together to get the right mood and personality, and it takes me forever to get a song finished.
home writing years
I'm trying to figure out how to record at home because I have a tiny house and a seven-year-old and my wife also works at home. So I can't work in the house because she's trying to write, so I pitched a tent in the backyard. I'm literally trying to record in the tent.
song writing want
The last thing you want to do is write songs about being in a band.
writing important stories
It is the melody and the rhythm that are by far the most important and then words and imagery and stuff, story bits will start to stick to a melody and that is the way I write.
writing feelings trying
I never sit and fill a journal with lyrics. Most of the time I'm trying to write a feeling, not a story. I'm not necessarily trying to describe the details of a place or event so much as the feeling of the thing. It is a kind of weird alchemy that is elusive until it feels right.
detail worried
Once you do have a child, you want to talk about every detail of it. And it is really boring to all your friends, and it should be. I was really worried about even going there at all.
I don't play an instrument. I pretend. I try to.
good tiny
When it comes to lyrics, I just write down a lot of things, and only a very tiny fraction of it, I think, is any good.
feels minor vocal
The same song can have drastically different feels and personalities just by changing some minor things. A different drumbeat or some vocal overdub could completely transform the song.
although best caught cave dead nick pair wear
Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave know best. Although I wear a lot of jeans, I've been told that Nick Cave doesn't own a pair and wouldn't be caught dead in denim.
feels good images involve listener literal lyrics riddles song swing
A lot of the lyrics I write involve images that just swing the song in a way that feels really good to me and there isn't a literal explanation. They're not riddles for the listener to solve.
began bought came freedom might people worried
At first, when 'Boxer' came out, people were a little let down, and we worried that it might be the end for us. But then it began to grow on people. 'Boxer' bought us our creative freedom.
lyrics
Usually, writing lyrics for me is like bleeding drop by drop from the forehead.
cool favourite
My favourite store? Seize Sur Vingt in New York. They make most of my suits, and they are really cool people.