Bryce Dessner

Obviously there are pieces of classical music that are some of the most beautiful music ever written, for me anyway is a…

— Bryce Dessner

You don't come to our shows if you want to look cool.

— Bryce Dessner

Typically, people think, 'Oh the hippies and the punks hated each other,' or that those things don't go together musically. Sometimes that…

— Bryce Dessner

Art is a way of life.

— Bryce Dessner

When I'm writing instrumental music, I try to find musical and non-musical inspirations.

— Bryce Dessner

With 'Boxer,' we made the kind of music we wanted to make and didn't really worry about what the expectation was.

— Bryce Dessner

I like to write on tour busses and airplanes. Something about moving.

— Bryce Dessner

In terms of the music, it feels almost like trouble's a good thing - you never know when a song is going…

— Bryce Dessner

When we learned to play in bands, what we were covering was equal part the Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead. That…

— Bryce Dessner

I love the physicality of instruments, and instruments as objects, like dancers are bodies.

— Bryce Dessner

Me, who's educated classically, I went toward rock music 'cause it was sort of a natural evolution from where I was playing…

— Bryce Dessner

My background in music is classical - I did graduate school in music. At that time, I was studying composition, but I…

— Bryce Dessner

I've got this diverse education, growing up in classical music and existing between that and music that is more visceral, so for…

— Bryce Dessner

A good song is a nice set of chords and some good lyrics; a great song is a song that reinvents itself…

— Bryce Dessner

The thing I realised about composition is, we remember most composers for four bars of music. Four singable bars of music. Pretty…

— Bryce Dessner

As long as I'm still growing as a musician, it keeps me inspired.

— Bryce Dessner

As much as you try to organize your life, life will surprise you.

— Bryce Dessner

We always say that National songs have to have a heart, that we don't make cold songs.

— Bryce Dessner

I think that place is a huge part of pretty much any musician's work, in how one responds to an environment, whether…

— Bryce Dessner

As a band gets more successful, there's a danger of falling in love with your own shadow.

— Bryce Dessner

It's not a hard sell to be asked to do something in Ireland.

— Bryce Dessner

There is a reactionary conservative side of classical music, which is not the most exciting side of it. The side that draws…

— Bryce Dessner

Inviting artists to do something, you want it to be a place where they're going to feel challenged and excited and that…

— Bryce Dessner

The danger of a rock band is repeating oneself. It's our greatest fear - that it evolves into the myopia of a…

— Bryce Dessner

I grew up going to see my sister dance, both at the ballet and later as a modern dancer, and have always…

— Bryce Dessner