“I have a hard time concealing my thoughts…”
MOST days during lockdown, Matt Berninger took long walks down back roads and along river paths in Los Angeles – exploring “strange places where nobody goes,” he says. Often, he’d go fishing. Packing up his rods and a tackle bag, he’d head to a remote jetty, alone save for the occasional fisherman or drug dealer. A Midwesterner by birth, Berninger found the space and solitude out here soothing.
For Berninger, his travels around town have been revelatory. He’s lived in California for seven years – having spent the previous 18 in Brooklyn – but it’s only during lockdown that he’s got around to exploring his adopted home town in more detail. “It’s like being in Oz,” he laughs. “I love being by the ocean and the sun.”
By rights, Berninger should be on tour with The National, celebrating the 10th anniversary of their High Violet album. With the dates postponed, Berninger has enjoyed an extended sabbatical at home with his wife Carin Besser (latterly, his co-lyricist in The National) and their daughter Isla. The upshot, he explains, has been a healthier daily routine: “I’m going to bed early and getting up early.” He’s already been up for two hours by the time he calls Uncut at 6:30 in the morning from his home in Venice, Los Angeles’ laidback beachfront locale. Yesterday he was up at 3am, writing a new song for Cyrano, a forthcoming movie version of the stage musical starring Peter Dinklage.
Berninger credits his Venice locale with bringing about a shift in his creative focus. “Our neighbourhood has so many stories,” he explains. “It’s a beautiful cross section of everybody – desperation and euphoric belief, hope, dreams and art and mystic, cosmic shit. It has a magical quality.”
One key element is its proximity to Hollywood. His social circle has brought him into contact with a number of figures from the movie capital – including filmmakers Mike Mills, Trent O’Donnell and Chris Miller, who rented his house to the.
