Photo credit: Chris Sgroi
For someone who is so busy and always collaborating, it’s incredible that ‘Serpentine Prison’ will actually be The National frontman Matt Berninger’s debut solo record. Although the album isn’t out until 2 October, Matt has now shared the video (directed, shot and edited by brother Tom) for the title track.
The slow-burning and quietly stirring sound doesn’t fly too far away from Matt’s day job and retains some of his visceral, bleak lyrics about swimming and keeping your dead head above water: ‘You’re gonna have a pretty hard time without drugs, without love’. Full of quiet acoustic Wilco-style strums, the strings and brass add a touch of Sufjan-style grandeur to the heartbreak as Matt reveals his innermost thoughts: ‘Everyone’s screaming, I’ve been daydreaming’; ‘I feel like I’m an impersonation of you’; ‘Nobody’s ever thinking about us as much as we want them to be’.
