Bryce Dessner

“For many people in the music conservatory world, the message was always, Focus! 'You can't do everything; you really need to specialize.' And especially at an early age, I ignored this advice.”

“Obviously, any living musician born after 1960 has been touched by rock and roll. It's the music of our time, and it's 'in the air,' as Steve Reich would say. My experience of it is just really direct because I'm actually playing in a collaborative band.”

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

“Early on, I was a performer playing classical music. It's in my DNA in a way that I can't begin to extract it.”

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

“As a pop musician, as someone who makes songs, the best ideas are the simplest. They come, and that's the lightning bolt moment.”

“In terms of the music, it feels almost like trouble's a good thing - you never know when a song is going to surprise you. We look for these subversive moments in songs.”

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

“We all contribute to The National, and it's like a familiar family. Matt is dad, Brian's like the dark horse uncle, Scott's the long-suffering mum, and Aaron and I are the bratty twins.”

“The danger of a rock band is repeating oneself. It's our greatest fear - that it evolves into the myopia of a semi-successful band that's in love with its own shadow.”

“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 brother. But I was always drawn back into classical music.”

“My background in music is classical - I did graduate school in music. At that time, I was studying composition, but I was studying classical guitar very seriously.”

“I like to think of myself as a musical scavenger.”

“We've played in places where there were more of us onstage than in the audience.”

“It doesn't necessarily take four years to write a good piece of music. It might take four hours. It just depends on when your inspiration comes.”

“Art is a way of life.”

“If you make rock music with guitars in it, the Radiohead comparison is inevitable.”

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

“When working with classical musicians, it is important to be clear as possible in the score about what my intentions are. Because there isn't a lot of rehearsal time, especially at the ballet, it's best if everything is written in the score.”

“Inviting artists to do something, you want it to be a place where they're going to feel challenged and excited and that will maybe open up some new doorway in their own lives or their own creative practice.”