The National Battles Back With Ninth Album, ‘First Two Pages of Frankenstein’: ‘We Needed to Lose Each Other and Find One Another Again’

variety.com:

Alex Swhear Matt Berninger felt paralyzed. The 52-year-old frontman for the National, one of the most enduring and influential indie rock bands of the 21st century, was battling a devastating bout of depression and writer’s block. “I didn’t want to write, didn’t want to do anything,” Berninger says over a Zoom call. “But the longer I didn’t [write], the harder it was to connect back to it… I hated everything I’d written; I hated the idea of trying to finish that thought.” As his problems persisted, they fueled a cycle of self-loathing that called into question Berninger’s entire persona. “I also had the sense of, have I turned myself into this misanthropic cliché that our music projects sometimes?

I was a little self-disgusted.” Berninger’s personal struggles precipitated perhaps the band’s most difficult stretch ever.

By their own admission, there was considerable doubt as to whether they would ever release another record. Ultimately, though, the National found its way back: “First Two Pages of Frankenstein,” the band’s ninth studio album, finds the band frequently rejuvenated, with Berninger’s writing sharp, textured and poignant.

But the album’s gestation was tortured. “It became apparent that Matt was struggling to write lyrics, and then it became apparent that it was more than that, where he was struggling generally,” says Bryce Dessner, who masterminds the band’s singular orchestral arrangements.