The National have announced the release of their eighth album, releasing new single ‘You Had Your Soul With You’ in the process.
Late last month, it was reported that The National appeared to have finished the recording process of their new album. The news was shared by the management company of longtime producer Peter Katis, though it was deleted shortly after.
Word of a new record came just 18 months after the release of the group’s 2017 effort, Sleep Well Beast, with Katis’ involvement marking the fifth album he has worked on with the band.
Since the release of their last album, The National have been busy touring the world and focusing on other projects. While we’ve seen the band provide music for Bob’s Burgers, and a compilation about a dead cat, we’ve also received word that Matt Berninger is set to star in a new comedy series.
Now, The National have indeed confirmed that a new record is on the way, releasing a new single and a trailer for a short film in celebration.
Check out the trailer for The National’s I Am Easy To Find:
As Pitchfork reports, The National have today announced the release of I Am Easy To Find, which will make its way into the world on May 17th.
A 16-track project, the new record features vocal contributions from the likes of Lisa Hannigan, Sharon Van Etten, Mina Tindle, and The Brooklyn Youth Choir
“Yes, there are a lot of women singing on this, but it wasn’t because, ‘Oh, let’s have more women’s voices,’” explained frontman Matt Berninger in a statement. “It was more, ‘Let’s have more of a fabric of people’s identities.’ It would have been better to have had other male singers, but my ego wouldn’t let that happen.”
Additionally, the group have also released a trailer for their short film, also titled I Am Easy To Find, to accompany the new record. Directed by Mike Mills and starring Alicia Vikander, the group describes that the two projects as “playfully hostile siblings that love to steal from each other.”
“The former is not the video for the latter; the latter is not the soundtrack to the former.”
“The movie was composed like a piece of music; the music was assembled like a film, by a film director,” the group’s press release explained. “The frontman and natural focal point was deliberately and dramatic sidestaged in favour of a variety of female voices, nearly all of whom have long been in the group’s orbit.”
“It is unlike anything either artist has ever attempted and also totally in line with how they’ve created for much of their careers.”
The National’s I Am Easy To Find will be released on May 17th through 4AD. Check out lead single, ‘You Had Your Soul With You’, below.
Check out The National’s ‘You Had Your Soul With You’:
The National’s I Am Easy To Find
1. ‘You Had Your Soul With You’
2. ‘Quiet Light’
3. ‘Roman Holiday’
4. ‘Oblivions’
5. ‘The Pull Of You’
6. ‘Hey Rosey’
7. ‘I Am Easy To Find’
8. ‘Her Father In The Pool’
9. ‘Where Is Her Head’
10. ‘Not In Kansas’
11. ‘So Far So Fast’
12. ‘Dust Swirls In Strange Light’
13. ‘Hairpin Turns’
14. ‘Rylan’
15. ‘Underwater’
16. ‘Light Years’
