Photo by Shervin Lainez

The National’s Bryce Dessner has announced a new, classical-based project – Impermanence/Disintegration – out April 2.

According to a press release, the musical work and integrated dance piece is a collaboration between the Australian String Quartet and Sydney Dance Company, and it is inspired by the devastating aftermath of the recent Australian bushfires.

“I was thinking about how fragile everything is, about how things that you think are structurally sound or permanent actually aren’t,” Dessner said of the project. 

Rafael Bonachela, Artistic Director of Sydney Dance Company, added “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 Impermanence 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.”

Previously, Impermanence premiered February in Australia, as one of the first live-audience classical and dance tours since the start of the pandemic.

Listen to the newest track from Impermanence/Disintegration – “Requiem-Ashes” – below: