Aaron Dessner on Ed Sheeran: 'He's so gifted'

Aaron Dessner has slammed the criticism directed at him after he collaborated with Ed Sheeran on his forthcoming album.

During an interview with The Guardian, The National rock band defended collaboration with Grammy winner, “[Ed Sheeran]’s made giant pop records that are easy to criticise, but on a human and artistic level, he’s so gifted and lovely. It couldn’t have been more natural, fun and rewarding to feel him jumping off the cliff with me. Over time, I’ve tired of the ‘what’s cool?’ debate.”

Moreover, the 47-year-old said that he wanted to bring out “the vulnerability and emotion in [Sheeran] to make music that would not normally be his inclination.”

“I didn’t feel the need to try to make pop music,” Dessner said.

Meanwhile, in the Kent studio, the duo collaborated on 32 songs, and as many as 14 were added to the album.

“There were times when he tracked vocals that were almost unusable because he was so emotional,” adding, “There’s this raw, visceral beauty to a lot of it.”

Moreover, the 32-year-old is facing a plagiarism trial where he was accused of lifting Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On to his song Thinking Out Loud.

“If I’d done what you’re accusing me of doing, I’d be an idiot to stand on stage in front of 20,000 people [and do that].

It is my belief that most pop songs are built on building blocks that have been freely available for 100s of years," Sheeran maintained.