AARON DESSNER’S HUDSON VALLEY REFUGE
AFTER 10 YEARS OF cramming The National into his Brooklyn garage-turned-studio, band member Aaron Dessner was ready for a change. In 2014, he and his family moved upstate to an 18th century colonial house in the Hudson Valley, complete with an old horse barn. “It’s right by this pond that’s quite long and thin and really beautiful, and I remember thinking, ‘That’s where a studio could be,’ ” recalls Dessner. So he hired architect Erlend Neumann to design a space that felt far removed, not only from that New York garage, but also from any studio he had been in before.
“The idea was to create some cross between a barn, a garage and a church,” says Dessner. “Also with the feeling that you would always be looking at nature and that there would be a lot of oxygen in the room. When I’m staring out at the countryside and seeing a lot of trees and birds and water, you’re just in a good mood.”
While originally created with The National in mind — complete with two bedrooms plus a loft, a living space and outdoor area — what became Long Pond Studio has since hosted many of his talented close friends, including big names like Taylor Swift. After working with Dessner remotely on folklore and evermore, Swift visited Long Pond to film the 2020 Disney+ concert documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, and artists including Gracie Abrams and King Princess have since stopped by. Soon, Long Pond will expand to include a Studio B (also built by Neumann). “Everyone who has been coming feels like they’re getting away and that it’s an ideal place to be able to think and create,” says Dessner. “I didn’t realize that it would become this creative oasis, but it has.”
Did you and your family feel any anxiety over leaving Brooklyn?
No. I feel like New York has changed so much and at some point it just didn’t feel like the center of it all, musically, anymore. I feel more vital or something here, creatively. I also grew up in Ohio in a very rural situation down in the woods so this is much more natural to me.
Does that factor into why artists come work and stay at Long Pond?
I hate to say it, but it is a little bit like a vacation for some people. For some people, I think it just feels like camp. People are pretty focused, and they usually don’t leave the property. Although it’s really pretty up here and the towns are thriving, it’s rare we do anything other than work, drink some wine and hang out.
Why else do you think artists are so eager to record at Long Pond?
It’s welcoming and it’s very fast, the workflow in there, because you can use anything at any point and it’s all plugged in and ready. I learned a lot from [Bon Iver’s] Justin Vernon and how he works. The vibe or the feeling you have is almost as important as the sound quality. A lot of people spend a lot of money investing in acoustical treatments whereas we have leaned much more into the environment.
What are some distinct functional design elements of Long Pond?
Most studios have an isolated control room that you look through, like a fishbowl into the live room, and I’ve always found that to be kind of paralyzing when it’s like, “OK, go: It’s time to do something brilliant.” I prefer, and that’s what we did at Long Pond, a beautiful room with really high ceilings where there’s a lot of room to think. And then there’s a big iso booth for when someone needs to sing or play something that’s truly isolated. Even the drums fit in there.
Since Long Pond is on your family’s property, are you more particular about who comes through?
Most of my friends at this point are people I make music with. Gracie [Abrams] is a great example; she has been here five times for 10 days each. She just comes in, hangs out with the kids, we’ll make some songs then make some dinner. Same with Justin or Taylor, whoever. I feel really lucky that that’s my job.
After artists visit, do you do the cleaning and laundry yourself?
Yeah, totally. I don’t mind really, but I make the beds and buy the food and I have some help [from engineers] Bella Blasko and Jon Lowe, but we don’t have a studio intern or assistant or anything like that, and I kind of like it. You just do it. And to be honest, whenever I’ve hung out with Taylor or anyone, they’re making breakfast and I don’t feel like anyone is being waited on.
When the folklore doc was released, what did that do for your request pile?
After Taylor, it was a bit crazy how many people reached out. And getting to meet and write songs with people you wouldn’t have had access to... I’m so grateful for it. I have made a lot of music now with Ed Sheeran that I really love, and I met him through Taylor. Gracie and King Princess and Girl in Red have all been here. But I also love going back into The National. This space keeps getting better and I keep adding new instruments, so I feel like we benefit from all these things. But you can’t do everything, and I really don’t want to franchise myself to the point where my head is spinning, so I try to just do things where I feel like I really can help or make something that I believe in, and I think that’s what I’ve done.