The National is a band of five men, but on a May afternoon, they were 13 men and women. After running through a stammering new song about emotional paralysis, “You Had Your Soul With You,” the musicians requested some tweaks. The guitarist Bryce Dessner asked for more drums in his monitors. The shift was prodded by two non-musician collaborators: the movie director Mike Mills, and Berninger’s wife, Carin Besser. Their previous LP, “Sleep Well Beast,” was one of the best-reviewed records of 2017 and won them a Grammy for best alternative album.

Source: New York Times May 22, 2019 20:14 UTC