With COVID and quarantine stopping pretty much everything, like the rest of us, Matt Berninger has found himself finding time for some of life’s great fundamentals: that means riding his bike, hanging out with his family and returning to a teenage passion – fishing.

It was early on the August bank holiday when I dialled up The National‘s frontman from his California garage/studio to chat about his bandmates’ work on Taylor Swift’s Folklore album, hear stories about mildly embarrassing himself when meeting Barack Obama and his therapeutic playlist-making during lockdown.

And of course his debut solo album, Serpentine Prison, out on 16 October – an album made with the legendary Booker T. Jones, made with a dream list of collaborators and dedicated to his Dad – who, from his loving descriptions, sounds like just as great company as Matt himself.