The National’s lead singer and lyricist Matt Berninger went on the Broken Record podcast and opened up about his experiences with mental health as a musician.
LISTEN NOW: The National's Matt Berninger talks battling depression through the creation of the band's new album on the Broken Record Podcast
Known for his melancholy baritone voice that crosses the boundaries of folk and rock, Berninger is a member of The National, duo EL VY, and even released his own solo album back in 2020. As the final episode of a two part series in which Broken Record sits down with the members of The National, Berninger reveals that a difficult bout with depression nearly kept him from music entirely.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can ever do it, I don’t know if I can write anymore, I don’t know if I can go on stage anymore, if I can tour anymore’” Berninger said. “I was just feeling paralyzed by, not only the writer’s block, but all of it. There was a phase where I didn’t want to write, I couldn’t listen to anything.” And as these things go, it was far from a lack of choice. “I wanted to be able to do it, I wanted to want to do it,” Berninger recalled.
It took a lot of struggle for Berninger to get back involved and work with music more consistently, where such struggles included battles with self-doubt and self-imposed pressure. Yet, there would be times of instantaneous songwriting, as if something was “triggered.” “Finally a song came,” Berninger said. “I think it was when I just started writing directly about the things I was feeling, my fears and everything.”
Nearly half of The National’s newest album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, was written through these bursts of inspiration. This includes their single, “Your Mind is Not Your Friend.” Berninger explains how it was aptly inspired by Mary Shelley’s book, and specifically, the settings and imagery in Frankenstein. “I was using that imagery to write about my brain, and write about my feeling lost and frozen and disconnected. So the song is 'Your Mind is Not Your Friend,' but that phrase was something my wife Carin had been echoing to me over the past year when I was in this phase.”
Eventually, the singer was able to strike a balance with his mental health and has been working with his depression instead of against it. “I got above it enough to be able to breathe” Berninger concluded. “I’m more aware of when it gets too deep to stand, and when to back away. Whatever that is, it’s just your brain.”
To hear the full podcast and more on Matt Berninger’s experiences as part of The National, check out Broken Record on the free Audacy app.
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