Aaron Dessner on working with Michael Stipe: My 20-year old self would never have thought this would happen

"I can’t say that I thought this would happen, because it’s one of those things - you know, my 20-year old self or my 15-year-old self would never have thought that would happen" Aaron Dessner told Stereogum about working with Michael Stipe, since R.E.M. were such a bih influence on The National - "but more recently, it seemed like more of a dialogue". The band is quarantined now, which is a huge difference, for The National in particular - "we’ve played so many shows for 20 years, and now who knows when that will come back. One of the negative sides of a really intense arc as a touring band is there are big gaps in your memory because you’re so exhausted. It’s an amazing job, and we’re so lucky and grateful for that. But one of the things that is maybe sometimes bittersweet is you miss a lot of normal rites of passages and people’s birthdays and such".