Brooklyn alt-rock outfit The National have today announced they are to set release a new album mid-year, their highly anticipated return after the astounding success of 2010’s High Violet.
Releasing a slew of tour dates across Europe and the US, including a homecoming set at the Brooklyn Barclays Centre, the band leaked a cheeky note about their upcoming release stating, “Oh and also, thought you might like to know that we’ll be putting out a new album in May”.
It has been three years since the National unveiled their fifth studio album High Violet which spawned crowd favourites ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, ‘Conversation 16’ and ‘Terrible Love’ and also saw the band tour Australia twice, playing both the Falls Festival and Harvest Festivals at the beginning and end of 2011.
This news comes after the National unveiled brand new tracks while headlining their very own curated All Tomorrow’s Parties incarnation in England through December of 2012. Consequence of Sound revealed the band performed four new tracks titled ‘I Need My Girl’, ‘Lola’, ‘Sullivan’ and ‘Prime’, each capturing the husky crooning of leader Matt Berninger alongside classic anthem-like choruses. These new tracks will presumably be featuring on the long-anticipated new release.
Never slacking off during downtime, The National have been keeping busy between releases with their recent addition to the soundtrack for the successful HBO TV series, Game of Thrones in ‘The Rains of Castamere’. According to Pitchfork, the dark and eerie track proves the group are big fantasy fans, having also contributed to the soundtrack for the popular videogame Portal 2 last year.
“Oh and also, thought you might like to know that we’ll be putting out a new album in May”.Vocalist Matt Berninger also contributed to Brooklyn-based interactive team Small Planet’s new interactive storybook app Dragon Brush, narrating the children’s story. The app also features a score by Berninger’s fellow bandmates, brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, who provide a plaintive guitar soundtrack while Berninger reads in his dulcet tones.
Bryce Dessner will also be returning to our shores in March as part of the Adelaide Festival’s impressive lineup. Dessner will be writing and curating a post-classical repertoire including indie collective Clogs, featuring Padma Newsome and the Adelaide Art Orchestra which is said to be a “smorgasbord of intriguing, progressive musicians, all on the same night, all on the same stage,” according to festival directors.
This new release from The National will join the highly anticipated list of material set to be released throughout 2013 including Deftones vocalist Jeff Caxide’s new outfit Palms, the latest from Parisian indie popsters Phoenix, the fifth LP from New Yorkers The Strokes, the new Fall Out Boy release, Daft Punk’s long-awaited fourth studio album, David Bowie’s first new album in a decade, and anticipated releases from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and The Knife’s 98 minute opus, Shaking The Habitual.
This comes alongside the strong collection of great Australian releases due this year including the Cat Empire’s latest, the second album from Melbourne twosome Big Scary, The Drones’ tour backed I See Seaweed, and a heap of new albums from the likes of Bernard Fanning, Birds of Tokyo, Hermitude, Airbourne, Super Wild Horses, and a heap of new material from Pond.
You can view The National performing three new songs from ATP 2012 below:
The National – ‘Lola’
The National – ‘Prime’
The National – ‘Sullivan’
