For years The National has been labeled as a gloomy kind of rock bandI think mostly because of Matt’s deep baritone voice, which even if he is singing about unicorns and butterflies, he just sounds sad most of the time. — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
Obviously there are pieces of classical music that are some of the most beautiful music ever written, for me anyway is a lot of… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
Typically, people think, 'Oh the hippies and the punks hated each other,' or that those things don't go together musically. Sometimes that is true,… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
When I'm writing instrumental music, I try to find musical and non-musical inspirations. — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
With 'Boxer,' we made the kind of music we wanted to make and didn't really worry about what the expectation was. — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
I like to write on tour busses and airplanes. Something about moving. — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
In terms of the music, it feels almost like trouble's a good thing - you never know when a song is going to surprise… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
When we learned to play in bands, what we were covering was equal part the Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead. That would defy… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
I love the physicality of instruments, and instruments as objects, like dancers are bodies. — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
Me, who's educated classically, I went toward rock music 'cause it was sort of a natural evolution from where I was playing with my… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
My background in music is classical - I did graduate school in music. At that time, I was studying composition, but I was studying… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
I've got this diverse education, growing up in classical music and existing between that and music that is more visceral, so for sure, I've… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
A good song is a nice set of chords and some good lyrics; a great song is a song that reinvents itself over time.… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
The thing I realised about composition is, we remember most composers for four bars of music. Four singable bars of music. Pretty much any… — Bryce Dessner Copy Share Image
