The National feel that working with director Mike Mills on I Am Easy to Find might have permanently changed how they’ll approach making albums. Guitarist Aaron Dessner says that having another creative voice pushed them in ways they might not have reached on their own.

Aaron Dessner feels that having director Mike Mills collaborate with The National on I Am Easy to Find sets them up to make very different albums in the future:

“It was fun. It kind of like defused certain creative frictions-slash-inertia. He helped push it along. And I think whether – yeah, I don’t know where we go from here, but it definitely feels like a sea change of some kind.”

Singer Matt Berninger jokes that their creative process was opened so much that their next step will be outside the world of music and movies: “We’re going to open a chain of restaurants!”