''Serpentine Prison'' is the debut solo studio album by

Matt Berninger Matthew Donald Berninger (, born February 13, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter, primarily known as the frontman and lyricist of indie rock band The National. In 2014, he also formed the EL VY project with Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls and ...

, lead singer and co-songwriter of The National, released on October 16, 2020. It was produced by

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...

and released on Book’s Records, a new imprint of

Concord Records Concord Records is an American record label owned by Concord and based in Los Angeles, California. Concord Records was launched in 1995 as an imprint designed to reach beyond the company's foundational Concord Jazz label. The label's artists hav ...

formed by Berninger and Jones. ''Serpentine Prison'' was nominated for

Best Recording Package The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer(s), unless the performer is also the art dire ...

at the

64th Annual Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

. The album was designed and art directed by Dale Doyle at Holotype, and painted by Michael Carson.

Background and recording

Berninger initially planned to release a

covers album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...

. Inspired by

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

's 1978 covers album ''

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

'', which was produced by

, Berninger contacted Jones for assistance in making his own covers album. Berninger provided Jones with demos of covers and original songs, and eventually decided on an originals album. Four of the covers they recorded were released on the album's deluxe edition. ''Serpentine Prison'' was recorded at Earthstar Creation Center in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city unti ...

. Additional recording was completed at Knobworld in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

; Silent Partner in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

; Cecelia's in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

; and Long Pond in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The album is dedicated to Berninger's grandmother Elaine and to his college professor Gordon Salchow.

Release and promotion

''Serpentine Prison'' was first announced by Berninger on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

on October 18, 2019, the day after he released his song "Walking on a String" featuring

Phoebe Bridgers Phoebe Lucille Bridgers (born August 17, 1994) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She has released two solo albums, '' Stranger in the Alps'' (2017) and '' Punisher'' (2020), both of which received critical accla ...

. The album was officially announced on May 20, 2020, with a scheduled release date for October 2, 2020. The album's title track was released the same day as a single. "Distant Axis" was released as a single on July 17, 2020. A third single, "One More Second", was released on September 10, 2020. The album's release date was pushed back to October 16, 2020. Berninger performed "One More Second" on ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second ite ...

'' on October 22, 2020. A deluxe edition of the album, featuring four covers and two new original songs, was released digitally on March 12, 2021. The bonus tracks were previously only available on the limited-edition double vinyl issue of the album, which was released the same day as the standard edition. The four covers include

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacL ...

's "

European Son "European Son" is a song written and performed by the American experimental rock band The Velvet Underground. It appears as the final track on their 1967 debut album ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. It is also the album's longest track at more t ...

Bettye Swann Betty Barton (born Betty Jean Champion, October 24, 1944), better known by the stage name Bettye Swann, is a retired American soul singer. She is best known for her 1967 hit song " Make Me Yours". Career Swann was born in Shreveport, Louisiana ...

's "

Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" is a song written by John D. Loudermilk. It was first released in 1962 by Don Cherry, as a country song and again as a doo-wop in 1967 by the group The Casinos on its album of the same name, and was a number 6 pop hi ...

Morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

's "In Spite of Me", and

Eddie Floyd Edward Lee Floyd (born June 25, 1937) is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song " Knock on Wood". Biography Floyd was born in ...

's "Big Bird".

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Serpentine Prison'' received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 77 based on 20 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Candace McDuffie of ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, A liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves a ...

'' wrote, "''Serpentine Prison'' displays infinite promise from an artist who has already given us a catalogue that has made a lasting impact on rock music as we know it."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the record sleeve, sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner n ...

. Musicians *

– vocals (all tracks), lyrics, melodies *

– Hammond B3 organ (tracks 1, 3–16), piano (tracks 2, 5, 6, 11, 12), electric piano (track 4), backing vocals (tracks 4, 11, 12, 14), bass (track 6), OP-1 synthesizer (track 11), electric guitar (tracks 13, 14) *

Scott Devendorf Scott Devendorf is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the bass guitarist for the American indie rock band The National, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums. Devendorf is also a member of the indie rock project LNZNDR ...

– bass (tracks 1, 3) * Harrison Whitford – electric guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 14), lap steel guitar (track 1), acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 3, 6–10, 12, 13, 16), slide guitar (tracks 4, 9), bass (tracks 4, 5, 6, 10, 15) *

Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing musi ...

– violin (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), loops (track 2), backing vocals (track 2) * Sean O'Brien – lap steel guitar (tracks 2, 4, 7, 11, 14, 16), acoustic guitar (tracks 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15), gang vocals (track 9) * Walter Martin – electric guitar (tracks 2, 4, 8, 11, 15), bass (tracks 2, 12), synthesizer (track 2), percussion (track 2), backing vocals (track 2) *

Hayden Desser Paul Hayden Desser (born February 12, 1971) who records as Hayden, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Thornhill, Ontario. His early works are a largely eclectic mix of genres from grunge to alternative country, as demonstrated by his first ...

– piano (tracks 1, 7), acoustic guitar (track 1) * Matt Barrick – drums (all tracks), percussion (tracks 1–11, 13–16) *

Gail Ann Dorsey Gail Ann Dorsey (born November 20, 1962) is an American musician. With a long career as a session musician mainly on bass guitar, she is perhaps best known for her lengthy residency in David Bowie's band, from 1995 to Bowie's death in 2016. Asid ...

– lead vocals (track 5), backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 6, 11–16), bass (track 1) * Kyle Resnick – trumpet (tracks 4, 5, 7, 9–11, 14–16), backing vocals (tracks 6, 15) * Jamie Heaslip – gang vocals (track 9) * Mike Brewer – acoustic guitar (tracks 4, 15), bass (tracks 8, 11, 14, 16) * Brent Knopf – piano (tracks 3, 9), guitars (track 9), synthesizer (track 9), backing vocals (track 9) * Matt Sheehy – acoustic guitar (track 3), bass (track 9) *

Mickey Raphael Michael Siegfried "Mickey" Raphael (born November 7, 1951) is an American harmonica player, music producer and actor best known for his work with Willie Nelson, with whom he has toured as part of The Family since 1973. He has performed or recor ...

– harmonica (tracks 4, 5, 9–11, 14–16), bass harmonica (track 6) * Ben Lanz – trombone (tracks 4, 5, 7, 9–11, 14–16), bass (track 7), piano (track 16) * Teddy Jones – electric guitar (tracks 13, 14) Production * Booker T. Jones – production (all tracks), arrangement (all tracks) * Sean O'Brien – recording (all tracks), mixing (all tracks), additional production (all tracks) * Matt Barrick – additional engineering * Bella Blasko – additional engineering * Walter Martin – additional engineering * John X Volaitis – additional engineering Art * Dale Doyle – album design * Michael Carson – artwork * Chris Sgroi – photography * Tom Berninger – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 debut albums Albums produced by Booker T. Jones Concord Records albums