Tag: Matt Berninger

Posted in Album Reviews

Matt Berninger – Get Sunk (2025)

Posted on by Michael

For his second solo album, The National’s singer Matt Berninger worked with producer/co-writer Sean O’Brien. The album is a mixture of mostly midtempo, atmospheric tracks with a bit of an electronic touch, some that sound like an elder indie rock stateman, and others that lean more country. “Little By Little” adds a bit of acoustic guitar and a little twang to the proceedings.  “Nowhere Special” moves toward indie rock statesman with it’s stream of conscious lyrics. 

Over guitars, “Bonnet of Pins” explores the Berninger favourite topic of a girl drinking at a party who’s character is further explored on the very good “Silver Jeep”.  Like “Frozen Oranges”, first song “Inland Ocean” mentions Indiana and wanting to get away from everything.  “I flew to Indiana to see a friend… wrap me up in your summer sheets”.  On Get Sunk, Berninger is able to explore more lowkey songs whose sound don’t have to fill hockey arenas on a nightly basis.  

7.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

The National – Cherry Tree EP (2004)

Posted on by Michael

In between their second and third albums, The National released the Cherry Tree EP. The first three songs mention drinking. “Wasp Nest” tells someone that “you’re cursing up a storm in a cocktail dress”, chaos over an acoustic guitar. “All The Wine” would also appear on next years Alligator album and “All Dolled-Up in Straps” adds some mournful strings that would appear a few more times.

The title track adds some intense drumming on a song where singer Matt Berninger sings that “loose lips sink ships” and “About Today” is an emotional song, asking “how close am I to losing you?”.  The album then closes with the addition of Padma Newsome on the acoustically inclined “Reasonable Man (I Don’t Mind)”.  The Dessner and Devendorf brothers along with Matt Berninger crafted several really good songs for this 28 minute sampler.  For many fans thinking of digging deeper into the catalogue, this is more representative of their later sound and could act as their true debut.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

The National – Alligator (2005)

Posted on by Michael

The National’s third album Alligator is where the band took a massive leap forward to the sound that they would take to a much wider audience a few years later. For the first couple of albums, the musicianship lead by the Dessner and Davendorf brothers was the main while lyrist Matt Berninger found his unique voice. On Alligator, Berninger lyrics add much intrigue to several of the songs and show his growth as a musical storyteller.

A solid backbeat from Bryan Davendorf holds the lower end of the whimsical “Looking For Astronauts”. “Secret Meeting” sees some melodic guitars along with a catchy chorus.  “Karen” is a particular highlight.  Spoken from the point of view of a scattered brain alcoholic, it’s a mysterious story where Berninger sings – “idle, idle, idle, idle, protect the nest, protect the title”.

The band lets loose and rocks out on several tracks including the anthemic single “Lit Up” and the pent up fury of “Abel” where Berninger screams repeatedly, “My mind’s not right, my mind’s not right!”. “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” has an interesting dream verse about running into your boss before the refrain “I’m so sorry for everything” repeatedly appears. The album closes with the somewhat political “Mr. November” who promises “I won’t f*** us over”. Alligator is a really good album by a band on the verge of a breakthrough and on the cusp of indie rock greatness.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Matt Berninger – Serpentine Prison (2020)

Posted on by Michael
Serpentine Prison

(say something about distant axis) While his bandmate Aaron Dessner was working with superstar Taylor Swift on her excellent folklore album, The National singer Matt Berninger was working on his debut solo album with the legendary Booker T Jones.  Originally slated to be an album of mostly covers, instead they started working on a slate of original song ideas that Berninger had. 

The title track was released as the first single back in May and lyrically works as a stream of consciousness with a fine vocal melody and horns. Those same horns punctuate “All Or Nothing” where Berninger pleads “Just tell me there are swimming holes in outer space/With train cars at the bottom”.  Album opener “My Eyes are T-Shirts” is instrumentally more sparse, voice not much above a whisper singing “my eyes are t-shirts/they’re so easy to read”. On his recordings with The National, Berninger’s lyrics really standout but here they often blend into the music.  Booker T adds a nice bit of organ on “One More Second”, the drums add more texture with backing vocals from Gail Ann Dorsey.  The five minute length lets the band breathe.

Second single, “Distant Axis” is a more laid back affair but on “Take Me Out of Town”, Berninger allows himself to be vulnerable where he wonders where he’d be without his partner.  “I’ve never been so burned out/Gonna lose it any minute/This is about how I feel right now”.  There is no chorus on on “Collar of Your Shirt” but Berninger really lets his vocals become more vulnerable as the song builds, mournful violins and additional organ add to the weight. On Serpentine Prison, Matt Berninger and Booker T release a mature album that is consistently solid and frequently very good.

7.5/10