El Vy - sleeping light, 2015

"EL VY (pronounced like a plural of Elvis; rhymes with ‘hell pie’) is the musical collaboration between Matt Berninger, vocalist and lyricist of The National, and Brent Knopf, the Portland musician and producer best known for his work in Menomena and his more recent band, Ramona Falls."

El Vy - return to the moon, 2015

"Return to the Moon is the debut album of EL VY, a collaboration between vocalist/lyricist Matt Berninger of the National and multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls, formerly of Menomena. The album blends the lighter side of both indie rock artists, offering funky, catchy, if melancholy ditties that bob along Knopf's textured arrangements, which are fond of syncopated percussion and guitar, quirky new wave synths, and rich, articulate tones from top to bottom."

Matt Berninger - breaking into acting, 2025

"‘Breaking Into Acting’ features vocals from Meg Duffy of LA band Hand Habits and touches on the malleability of performance. “Sometimes you have to fake forgiveness before you can actually forgive,” explains Berninger on the song. The new track follows the first single off the album, 'Bonnet of Pins', in which Berninger confronts grief and the unexpected humour it can bring."

El Vy - return to the moon live, 2015

"EL VY is an American indie rock duo that consists of Matt Berninger (lead vocalist of The National) and Brent Knopf (founding member of Ramona Falls and Menomena). The duo released their debut album, Return to the Moon, in October 2015."

Matt Berninger - serpentine prison, 2020

"Berninger’s sentimentality usually pushes back against the National’s reputation for self-serious art rock, but it doesn’t hold up as well on its own. “One More Second” was conceived as a response to “I Will Always Love You,” but the lyrics are so boilerplate (“The way we talked last night/It felt like a different kind of fight”) that it could be a response to just about anything. When Berninger ambles about, barely stringing together melodies on “Oh Dearie” as Andrew Bird’s violin soars and Mickey Raphael’s bass harmonica drones, he feels like the least talented person on his own album. He’s most at home revisiting familiar themes of intimacy and projection on the title track: “I feel like an impersonation of you/Or am I doing another version of you doing me?” It’s not that the emperor has no clothes, it’s that these don’t fit."

CHVRCHES - my enemy, 2018

"It's airy, light, and more downbeat than its predecessor, and is especially significant as a different sonic landscape from the sort that we're used to from Berninger, who for the record sounds great here."