3 Songs That Show How The National’s Aaron Dessner Changed the Sound of Modern Pop Music

In 2020, few would have predicted how The National’s Aaron Dessner would someday transform the sound of modern pop music. But since 2001, Dessner’s band, often affectionately labeled Dad Rock, has steadily nurtured its fanbase with literate post-punk like the clever offspring of R.E.M. and Nick Cave.

And one of the band’s fans just happens to be the biggest pop star on the planet. So that’s where this list begins.

“Cardigan” by Taylor Swift

As the world navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, Dessner sent Taylor Swift instrumental snippets. She quickly sent back voice memos, turning his musical scribblings into complete songs. Soon a new album, Folklore, materialized. And Dessner’s cabin-in-the-woods folk (co-produced by Jack Antonoff) evolved into a North Star for modern pop music. Instead of taut, overproduced recordings, Dessner’s compositional hand—soothing, warm, minimalist—felt human in an age of tinkered-with computer recordings—the perfect companion for Swift’s vivid and myth-like confessionals.

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan,
Under someone’s bed.
You put me on and said I was your favorite.

“End Of August” by Noah Kahan

Noah Kahan, perhaps a byproduct of Folklore, released his breakout album, Stick Season, in 2022. For the follow-up, he worked with Dessner at the producer’s Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley. A woodsy and serene place that looks like this music sounds. “End Of August” opens Kahan’s latest, The Great Divide. It looks back on how things change even though they often feel like they don’t. When Dessner wants to recall this kind of hazy nostalgia, he typically finds the right chords—both searching and familiar—on his Yamaha upright piano.

“Us” by Gracie Abrams (Featuring Taylor Swift)

Gracie Abrams and Dessner had worked together on Abrams’s debut LP, Good Riddance. Then, on The Secret Of Us, we hear songs echoing Dessner and Swift’s earthy folk. But you also notice the indie meditations of Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Rós, Bon Iver, and others. The vibe is emotional and natural, with dashes of glitching electronica. It can sound like home, or like some faraway place you’ve never seen. It’s part dream, part lore, part past. And the overarching production sentiment is eternally gentle.  

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