The National's Matt Berninger has compared singing with Taylor Swift to "dancing with Gene Kelly".
Matt Berninger
The 49-year-old frontman was overjoyed to record the duet 'coney island’ - which was co-written by his bandmate Aaron Dessner - with Taylor for her latest album, ‘evermore’.
He tweeted: "Singing a song with @taylorswift13 is like dancing with Gene Kelly. She made me look good and didn't drop me once. "coney island" is an incredibly beautiful song she and @aaron_dessner wrote together. It really made me miss Brooklyn. Such a blast being a part of evermore. (sic)"
Taylor is a "mega-fan" of indie rock veterans The National and admitted she'd like to add his compliment to her "most charming tweets wall".
She responded: "Might print that out and hang it on my ‘most charming tweets’ wall. I’m a @TheNational mega fan, I have all the merch, and making music with you is an absolute THRILL. Thanks a million."
Aaron - who was one of the main producers on 'evermore' and its sister record 'folklore' - has also hailed the ‘Blank Space’ hitmaker for her "seemingly boundless talent” as a singer, songwriter and storyteller.
He reflected on Instagram: "It’s only been 5 months since folklore was released. But truth be told @taylorswift and I never actually stopped exchanging ideas and somehow we've finished a sister record called evermore that I love just as much. These songs are wilder and freer, sometimes in strange time signatures and darker hues, but very much a continuation of what we started with folklore. I can't begin to express my gratitude and respect for Taylor -- I never cease to wonder at her seemingly boundless talent as a singer and a songwriter and storyteller. It’s been the experience of a lifetime to work so fast and furiously with her. As with folklore, @jackantonoff, @blobtower and William Bowery all contributed brilliant ideas and songwriting — the same alchemy and teamwork continued. This time my brother @brycedessner contributed much more as well— helping write and produce Coney Island and orchestrating the entire record. I’ve never done anything creatively of any value without Bryce helping to elevate it, as he does here again. As important, @heyjonlow has been my brother in all of this work too -- I could never have conceived of this without him by my side every step of the way. And Justin @blobtower , who has taught me so much, is here again too, lending his insane talents. If that wasn’t enough, my bandmates in @thenational , Matt, Bryan and Scott along with Bryce, are here too. We learned to write songs and make records together. Hearing Matt sing with Taylor and the entire band perform on Coney Island — things have come full circle.
And there are so many other friends who have made very significant contributions to this record (more later on them later) (sic)”
‘evermore’ also features collaborations with Haim on ‘no body, no crime’, Bon Iver on the album’s title track and Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons on ‘cowboy like me’.
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