The National’s Aaron Dessner defends working with Ed Sheeran: “I’ve tired of the ‘what’s cool?’ debate”

nme.com:

The National’s Aaron Dessner has defended working with Ed Sheeran on his upcoming album ‘–’, saying he’s “tired of the ‘what’s cool?’ debate.”Dessner co-wrote and co-produced Sheeran’s ‘-’ (‘Subtract’), which is due out May 5.“For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life,” Sheeran said when he announced his sixth album.

It was written when the musician was “spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety”.In a new interview with The Guardian, Dessner said that he wanted to bring out “the vulnerability and emotion in [Sheeran] to make music that would not normally be his inclination”.“I didn’t feel the need to try to make pop music,” Dessner added.The pair worked on 32 songs together in a studio in Kent, with 14 of them making it onto the album. “There were times when he tracked vocals that were almost unusable because he was so emotional,” said Dessner. “There’s this raw, visceral beauty to a lot of it.”Addressing any backlash to the collaboration, Dessner added: “[Ed Sheeran]’s made giant pop records that are easy to criticise, but on a human and artistic level, he’s so gifted and lovely.

It couldn’t have been more natural, fun and rewarding to feel him jumping off the cliff with me. Over time, I’ve tired of the ‘what’s cool?’ debate.”Dessner went on to confirm that the pair have continued working on more than 30 new songs together, post ‘-’.