Live In-Studio: EL VY

If you’ve ever heard the music of The National, the brooding baritone of Matt Berninger is almost immediately recognizable. But, back in the early 2000s, before The National was one of the big-deal indie rock bands of this century, they were just a group of guys struggling to make something happen. And while they were touring small clubs on the West Coast, they met three other young guys like themselves in a band from Portland called Menomena.

Berninger asked Menomena’s Brent Knopf to send him musical ideas. And Knopf did — more than 300 in one month. Berninger filed them away in a folder labelled “The Moon.” And, almost a decade later, they finally got around to recording them. Their new partnership is called EL VY and their debut record is called Return to the Moon.

Kurt Andersen: Let’s listen to “I’m the Man to Be”and you guys can walk me through how you did each bit.

Matt Berninger: The lyrics in this song are ridiculous. There’s a song by School Boy Q called “There He Go”which samples a Menomena song, and I thought it would be funny to sample that same sample. Then I wrote all these lyrics to that from the perspective of a total lame-o rock star in a hotel room. And, literally, I was recording it in the hotel room and later on you’ll hear housekeeping come into the room while I had the ottoman and some chairs up on the bed so I could stand and sing and she came in and saw all the furniture on the bed. It was a very awkward moment.

Brent, was there a band or piece of music that first really hooked you?

Brent Knopf: Probably “In the Air Tonight”by Phil Collins.

KA: And, Matt, as a kid, was there an aha moment?

MB: My parents had a Barry Manilow record that my mother wore out, and so I would hear that all the time. And then, I think, the Greasesoundtrack — and specifically “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”I was in love with Olivia Newton John, as many young boys were. I was very much into the conservative, poodle skirt version. Did not like the curly hair and leather at the end at all. Still don’t. I remember staring at her on the back of the cover of the Grease soundtrack. And that’s probably why I write all these sad love songs.