The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner routinely collaborate far and wide; National singer Matt Berninger, not so much. Turns out Berninger has had an off-on dalliance with Brent Knopf (Menomena/Ramona Falls), kept in a folder on his laptop, called “The Moon”. The appeal of this low-key grower lies in Berninger’s woebegone baritone, rubbing up against non-National music that is neither taxing nor obvious. There are feather-light shuffles here like Sleepin’ Light, or pretty, piano-led outings like No Time to Crank the Sun. Berninger is usually pretty devastated – on It’s a Game, it’s down to the breakup of the punk band Minutemen – but his dry humour gets overlooked. The louche I’m the Man to Be flirts with the image of a “green-coloured ‘Fuck Me’ shirt” – “the green one”, Berninger emphasises.
