Aaron Dessner
Aaron Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is a founding member of The National. Together with Matt Berninger, who writes the lyrics, Aaron writes much of the music for the band. He is a Brooklyn-based, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer.
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[edit] Guest Performer
In addition to extensive touring and performances with the National, Aaron has performed with and supported David Byrne, Clogs, Doveman, Final Fantasy, Feist, Grizzly Bear, Hayden, Justin Vernon and My Brightest Diamond.
[edit] Dark Was the Night
In 2009, brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner produced an extensive AIDS charity compilation, Dark Was the Night, for the Red Hot Organization. The record features exclusive new recordings and collaborations from a long list of artists including David Byrne, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Feist, Sharon Jones, Cat Power, Grizzly Bear, My Morning Jacket, and Spoon. Dark Was the Night has raised over 1.5 million dollars for AIDS charities as of January 2011.
On May 3, 2009 4AD and Red Hot produced Dark Was the Night - Live, a concert commemorating the newest Red Hot album. The show took place at Radio City Music Hall and featured several of the artists that contributed to the compilation.
[edit] Collaborations and Contributions
Aaron and Bryce Dessner are frequent collaborators with a wide range of musicians. In 2009, Aaron contributed a track to the Dark Was the Night compilation. This track, "Big Red Machine", was co-written with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and was also featured in the 2010 documentary, Last Minutes with ODEN, a short documentary that later went on to win the overall Best Video Award at the first annual Vimeo Awards ceremony. Justin and Aaron collaborated once again at the 2010 MusicNOW Festival, performing together a cover of Sharon Van Etten's "Love More." In 2008, Aaron premiered sketches with Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) at the same event.
Marshall Curry's award winning documentary Racing Dreams includes music contributed by both Aaron and The National. "Win Win" directed by Thomas McCarthy closes with "Think You Can Wait," a track written by Aaron and Matt Berninger, recorded by The National with additional vocals from Sharon Van Etten.
[edit] Producer
Production credits include 2009's AIDS charity compilation, Dark Was the Night, for the Red Hot Organization, as well as Doveman's 2009 release, The Conformist, and Sharon Van Etten's latest album Tramp, which is set for release in February, 2012 by Jagjaguwar. It will be Sharon Van Etten's third full-length release, and the follow-up to 2010's acclaimed Epic.
[edit] The Long Count
The Long Count is a large commission for the BAM Next Wave Festival that finds Bryce and Aaron working alongside visual artist Matthew Ritchie. Together created a work loosely based on the Mayan creation story Popol Vuh that includes a 12 piece orchestra and four guest singers; Kim Deal, Kelley Deal, Matthew Berninger, and Shara Worden. The work had its world premiere at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in September 2009 as part of the Ellnora Festival.
[edit] External links
- official site of The National
- official site of Dark Was the Night
- interview with Aquarium Drunkard
- interview with Pitchfork (the National and production projects
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