A Photographic Reflection

Written by: Darcy Moore - Sense Music Media

One More Second, the latest release from Matt Berninger, the man usually found sporting “ageingcool” as the front man of Brooklyn band THE NATIONAL. This is his last release in a string of singles that have that have been released this year from MB, ahead of his solo album, Serpentine Prison, set for release on October 16.

The songs video is simple but effective. MB dances alone in front of a fabricated crowd. Spot lights of phones videoing the performance, mixed with large screens backing him, create a fantasised stage performance, non-non-existent in these COVID times. This thought of fantasy, singing alone to yourself whilst dancing (don’t pretend you don’t do it), draws small, parallels to Rinko Kawauchi’s image of a ghostly red line, sporadically dancing in the foreground of stars. It likens to Berninger dancing in front of a manufactured crowd of independent lights. These two cooperate in a tranquility and thus help the listener to visualise the song as the band intended, even if looking at an obscure photograph while listening to the music.

It’s no secret that when you hear a song from MB, you might feel a sense of sadness, inward reflection, or even picture a man sat alone at bar meandering poems out loud to himself. However, these on-the-surface sad songs can be filled with quippy one-liners in disguise. Is this new song one of those clever wisecracks, dressed up in yesterday’s red wine stained suit? No. This very much feels true to it’s intended dogma. In a recent interview MB said of his writings:

“I just wanted to write one of those classic, simple, desperate love songs that sound great in your car”.

New Years day, 2019. I was driving through country roads on the North Island of New Zealand, back to my home at the time in Wellington after a few days travelling over the holiday break. At one point on the road I see a a river to my left, I turn down the next connecting dirt road to follow it to the seductive blue water. When I arrived it was empty. A deserted piece of NZ’s dream like landscapes. I walked along the river and noticed a chair and towel left alone; coincidentally sharing the same colour palette as the water in-front of me. As the simplest explanation is often the correct one - a family came from the woods behind me soon after to claim the goods - but the few minutes when it was just me and the discarded belongings were much more interesting. Had someone left in a rush? If so, why? Or perhaps it was just simple abandonment leaving these objects to rot. This echoing resemblances between my small chance run in of mystery and Berninger’s longing for something back, and desire towards the “what ifs”, share an ethereal connection.

This may be a result of knowing the scenarios described in some of his most recent works with The National. MB’s reflections on chapters of life’s peaks and valleys (namely threat of divorce from his longtime wife) and natural feelings of “what could have been”, weave through the bands work in recent years. But there’s one thing that really gets at me when connecting these most recent solo releases - and especially after viewing the accompanying music videos - his health. In the second last release, a song called Distant Axis, MB seems to have taken a drop of LSD and they’ve filmed the result. One could argue this as an effort toward an existential experience connecting himself to something larger than ourselves.

“I feel like I'm as far as I can get from you” are the lyrics that fade out Distant Axis, and this doesn’t exactly help the listener picture a man cosy at home with loved ones. However, these small connections that seem to string through songs may just be me over-thinking things as I tend to do. This isn’t helped though with MB’s physical resemblance to my own father and his deteriorating health. A man sat alone in a large house perhaps thinking of his younger years, in his golden ones. Reverting back to One More Second’s lyrics and it’s clear as day title certainly lends credence to this narrative.

A feeling of solitude and self reflection appear in Katrin Keonning’s image from her series, A country big enough to disappear in.

This image conjures up thoughts of someone getting back to a hotel to spend another night alone, while the backlit trees behind the building suggest something bigger, a mystery that’s just out of reach, or perhaps wanting one more moment of something longed for.

True to form, One More Second is yet another melancholic monologue from Berninger. Albeit somewhat simpler than some of his other works; likely due to absence of his usual bandmates. The images presented here along side this new song help elevate each others medium. Creating a new narrative for each piece individually or together. Harmonising one another in a visual and sound landscape where they were never intended to meet.

MATT BERNINGER on Spotify