The National’s success story is a slow burner. Formed in 1999 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the group (comprised of singer Matt Berninger and two sets of brothers, twins Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and Scott and Bryan Devendorf), only began to garner mainstream attention halfway through the 2000s with the critically acclaimed albums Alligator (2004) and Boxer (2007). The hype surrounding their new album High Violet is building to a fever pitch, while the first show of their current tour (at London’s Royal Albert Hall) sold out within minutes. NOWNESS caught up with Aaron Dessner, who shares some thoughts on London, live-streaming and being filmed by legendary documentary director DA Pennebaker. 

Why did you decide to start the new tour in London?

It has to do with the schedule. It makes more sense because we’re playing on the Jools Holland [BBC2 live music] show next week. We’re doing two shows in London, one in Paris and two in Berlin, and then we do a full tour of the US and Canada.

You’re mounting a live-stream event later on in the tour—could you tell me about that?

It’s going to be shot by DA Pennebaker in the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in the opera house. It will be a live real-time webcast, with 12 cameras. It’s the first time that Pennebaker and his wife Chris Hegedus have done something like this, but they’re both legendary filmmakers. I couldn’t believe that we would actually have the chance to work with these people. I have seen [Pennebaker’s] films many, many times––especially Don’t Look Back and Monterey Pop––so it’s kind of hard to believe that we’re going to do something together.

How did you came into contact with them?

My brother and I produced [the compilation album] Dark Was The Night, which has raised about a million dollars already for the AIDS charity Red Hot. We then had an opportunity to do a live concert [for Red Hot], sponsored by American Express. We wanted to find a director that would be something special and really beautiful and would generate more interest [in the event]. We approached Pennebaker and he agreed to meet with us and we hit it off.

Is he making a longer film about you guys as well, or is he just directing the live-stream?

He has been shooting us quite a bit at home and at photo shoots so, yes, I’m sure it will be edited into something else.

How was recording the album?

Part of making an album for us is to get lost in the details and to lose perspective and to have that creative friction and disillusionment at times, and then eventually the clouds part and there’s something there. We still seem to be arriving at a place that we’re excited by and interested in and so that’s a really great thing.

But one that you get through with a fair amount of humor and joking around.

Yes. There’s a lot of self-deprecating humor that goes on and brotherly insults. And obviously we are sincere and the songs aren’t meant to be ironic but at the same time nobody is delusional that we’re some kind of gothic, super serious, noirish rock band. To us, there’s a difference between what you do creatively and what your personality is.