March 25, 2021 2:00PM

The National’s Bryce Dessner Releases New String Composition ‘Impermanence’

Piece is part of collaborative project with Australian String Quartet and Sydney Dance Company, Impermanence/Disintegration

By JON BLISTEIN

The National’s Bryce Dessner has released a new piece, “Impermanence,” from his upcoming collaboration with the Australian String Quartet and the Sydney Dance Company, Impermanence/Disintegration. The album will arrive April 2nd via 37d03d, the label Dessner founded with his brother/National bandmate Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.

While this marks the first time “Impermanence” has been released in full, half the composition arrived last year in a video featuring Sydney Dance Company dancers Mia Thompson and Riley Fitzgerald performing choreography by Rafael Bonachela. Clemens Habicht directed the video.

</p><p class="p1">“Impermanence” marks the third offering from <i>Impermanence/Disintegration</i>, following “Emergency” and “Requiem-Ashes.” Dessner composed and arranged the nine tracks on the album, save for “Another World,” which was written by Anohni, with Dessner doing the string arrangements. The album was performed by the Australian String Quartet: Dale Barltrop on violin I, Francesca Hiew on violin II, Stephen King on viola, and Rachael Tobin on cello.</p><p class="p1">The accompanying dance production, which is dubbed <i>Impermanence</i>, was supposed to premiere in Sydney last March but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With case numbers incredibly low throughout Australia, however, <i>Impermanence</i> was able to finally premiere in February, and an <a href="https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/performance/national-tour/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Australian tour</a> is scheduled to take place this summer.</p><div class="admz" id="adm-inline-article-ad-1"><div class="adma boomerang" data-device="Desktop" data-width="301"><div style="" class="pmc-adm-boomerang-pub-div ad-text"><div id="gpt-dsk-tab-article-inbody1-uid0" class="adw-301 adh-250" data-is-adhesion-ad=""> <script type="application/javascript">blogherads.adq.push(function(){blogherads.defineSlot('medrec','gpt-dsk-tab-article-inbody1-uid0').setTargeting('pos',["mid-article","mid","in-article1","mid-article1"]).setSubAdUnitPath("music/article/inbody1").addSize([[300,250],[620,350],[2,2],[3,3],[2,4],[4,2]]);});</script></div></div></div></div><div class="c-related-links-wrapper"><div class="c-related variant-original"><h4 class="c-related__heading t-bold t-bold--upper"> Related Stories</h4><div class="c-related__links"> <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-national-photo-book-light-years-1145495/" class="c-related__link" data-index="1" data-label="related-article" rel="noopener" target="_blank"></p><div class="arrow-right"></div><h5 class="c-related__caption t-bold"> The National Prep New Photo Book ‘Light Years’</h5><p></a><br /> <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-national-matt-berninger-new-song-let-it-be-1130350/" class="c-related__link" data-index="2" data-label="related-article" rel="noopener" target="_blank"></p><div class="arrow-right"></div><h5 class="c-related__caption t-bold"> The National’s Matt Berninger Releases New Song ‘Let It Be’</h5><p></a></div></div><div class="c-related variant-evergreen-link hide"><h4 class="c-related__heading t-bold t-bold--upper"> Related Stories</h4><p><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country-lists/best-country-christmas-albums-771284/" class="c-related__link" data-index="1" data-label="related-evergreen" rel="noopener" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="c-related__img"><div class="c-crop c-crop--size-related"> <img decoding="async" width="1512" height="911" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" data-src="https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/10christmasclassics-collage.jpg?resize=1800,1200&w=1800" class="c-crop__img wp-post-image" alt="10 Old-School Christmas Classics" loading="lazy" /></div></div><h5 class="c-related__caption t-bold"> 10 Must-Hear Old-School Country Christmas Albums</h5><p><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/lady-gagas-born-this-way-express-yourself-104463/" class="c-related__link" data-index="2" data-label="related-evergreen" rel="noopener" target="_blank"></a></p><h5 class="c-related__caption t-bold"> Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’: Much Better Than ‘Express Yourself’</h5></div></div><p>“When Rafael [Bonachela] and I chose to create a piece inspired by the fragility of life, the impermanence of our world and our planet, and of so many things we think are eternal that are, in fact, extremely fragile, we never imagined how this idea would confront us so directly in our process,” Dessner tells <em>Rolling Stone</em>. “First in the horrible fires that consumed Australia last year as we were starting to create and then with the piece and tour being canceled last spring as we watched the entire world devastated by a terrible pandemic. Two years later, I am so happy that our work is finally seeing the light of day… I’m hopeful that audience and artist can return to the theater for more live performances soon.”</p><p class="p1">In a statement, Bonachela, who’s also the artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company, said: “It has been a real treat to conceive of this work together with Bryce Dessner and the Australian String Quartet — to explore the emotional drivers through both dance and music and to arrive at a place where the parts knit together so closely to make the whole. And ironically, to be able to shape <i>Impermanence</i> in response to such unexpected, but life-changing global events. For me, this encapsulates the incredible power of contemporary dance and music and how the response of the artist can truly resonate.”</p><p><em>From <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-national-bryce-dessner-string-composition-impermanence-1145873/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Rolling Stone US</a></em></p><p>

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