The National are on a roll. After coming into their own with 2007’s Boxer, they followed up with two critically hailed albums — 2010’s High Violet and 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me — but fans eager for the next one will have to wait.
Frontman Matt Berninger is currently on tour with EL VY, his side-project with Menomena/Ramona Falls’ Brent Knopf, and took time out from a stop in Copenhagen, Denmark to answer a few fan questions via Facebook from his hotel room.
The National recently offered an update on their new album, saying they’ve written plenty of tunes, with Berninger calling 15 of their new songs “fucking amazing” and indicating that fans would get to hear them soon.
However, it won’t be in the form of a new album. During his Facebook Q&A, Berninger said that whilst The National plan on playing some of the new songs live, the album won’t be coming in 2016, so fans will have to wait at least another year.
As Pitchfork notes, elsewhere in the Q&A Berninger revealed that the band would never play ‘Cardinal Song’ from Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers in full because “it’s too depressing” and that they recorded a new song for the show Bob’s Burgers.
“It was a goofy song about Thanksgiving and how Europe doesn’t have Thanksgiving,” he said. “Maybe it’ll come out next year, it’s really funny.” According to the Q&A, the song was pulled due to the tragic events in Paris.
The frontman also discussed his favourite lyricists, name-checking Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Kim Deal, and Nick Cave; recounted the time he met Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry; and addressing whether his wife actually “drove into the vines”.
Watch the first part of the Q&A below, and check out the rest here and here.
Copenhagen Q&A
Posted by EL VY on Monday, November 30, 2015