The National

[Jordan#41]

I guess the female vocalist used to be part of David Bowie's touring band?

[clayj41]

Originally Posted by thebridge15

of course coming no where near me

gotta plan some travel around this it looks like

The Indy show being on a Wednesday is a bummer, but I'll try to swing it.

[eliz]

We got tickets for the Toronto show at Roy Thompson Hall (2600 capacity theatre, so pumped!) and the Hamilton show.

SO EXCITED!

[BotheLaneFan]

“You have no idea how hard I died when you left.”

Love the new song.

[Cobo]

Anyone have the second pre sale code?

[mdel21]

Presale code?

[ExistenceNow]

Don't they vary by venue?

C3 pre-sale code for Austin is INEEDMYGIRL.

[mdel21]

No idea. Looking for the Chicago one.

[mdel21]

Just got two pit tickets for Chicago!!

[Benny003]

No show in Minneapolis again. They almost never come through here for some reason, which means I've never been able to see them live. I don't know why they don't like the Twin Cities.

[laura22]

i had only one thing to do
and i couldn't do it yet

[iMAC386]

Do we know if this album is leftover recordings from the Sleep Well Beast session, or those leftover songs recorded in a new session after SWB? Just wondering cuz the production/sound had a different vibe/sound than the last 3 albums, wondering if that was gonna be the case with this new album too.

[iMAC386]

New song is awesome. I love the National.

[Jordan#41]

Originally Posted by iMAC386

Do we know if this album is leftover recordings from the Sleep Well Beast session, or those leftover songs recorded in a new session after SWB? Just wondering cuz the production/sound had a different vibe/sound than the last 3 albums, wondering if that was gonna be the case with this new album too.

It's a mix of new songs/songs from the SWB sesssions and one much older track (Rylan) that we know of.

[mja271]

I think all of the recording was done post SWB, but as Jordan mentioned the songs are a mix of new tracks and stuff that either didn't make SWB or was partially written during those sessions.

[TheLastStop123]

really digging the new single after a few more listens. It’s really hopeful and fun. Guitars remind me of Bambi from Tokyo Police Club

[iMAC386]

The guest vocals on the new song are perfect.

[BotheLaneFan]

Originally Posted by iMAC386

The guest vocals on the new song are perfect.

One of Matt’s best lyrics ever and someone else got to sing it.

[Jordan#41]

Originally Posted by BotheLaneFan

One of Matt’s best lyrics ever and someone else got to sing it.

Matt's wife wrote the song.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheNational...ote_this_song/

[BotheLaneFan]

The lady got me two tickets for the Greek Theatre show. I’m so hype.

[Jordan#41]

"Light Years"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=5FQtSn_vak0

[LillywhiteisGod]

pure greatness

[mja271]

That's a beautiful song. Not reinventing the wheel by any means for them but man that's nice.

[iMAC386]

This band owns.

[clayj41]

I wasn't impressed by Light Years when it debuted at Homecoming, but I really like what they've done with it in the studio. Very fitting music video as well.

[lockman21]

Gonna be in the pit at the Chicago show.

[eliz]

Went to the "A Special Evening with The National" show in Toronto last night. It was..... something completely unexpected!

They did a showing of the short film companion piece to the album, then a Q&A with the creator of the film, Matt and Aaron (hosted by Leslie Feist!). Then they played the full new album start to finish, and ended with 4 classics (The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness, Bloodbuzz Ohio, Fake Empire and About Today).

The film was VERY art-house-esoteric, but also fascinating and heartbreaking. Some serious hipster pretention going on, but it worked? I think? The Q&A was just weird, and showed me that (some) fans of The National are just as nuts as the DMB fAmiLy crazies...

The new album seems much more of a collaboration with outside artists than previous ones, and definitely a further drift away from their post-punk roots. The music is still very complex and wonderful, but there are a lot of female vocals, and I'm not sure how I feel about that, but then I've never been a fan of the "male-female duet" type song.

Absolutely LOVE "Light Years." From what I can remember of the new album, "Where Is Her Head" was INCREDIBLE, and "Oblivions" was very cool. Looking forward to the album release!

[mja271]

I've heard a few YouTube live videos of the new stuff, what I've heard I've liked. Definitely a little skeptical of the female vocals throughout the entire record as well. I will say though that I expect the stuff to sound better on the album than what I heard. They're still getting comfortable with these songs live and as much as I love Matt sometimes he can be pretty off key (works fine when you're there, doesn't always translate to low quality YT vids). So, I think as usual the album is going to sound amazing.

[iMAC386]

"post-punk roots"

I know it's totally subjective, but I've never thought of them as that, even at their beginning.

[eliz]

Originally Posted by iMAC386

"post-punk roots"

I know it's totally subjective, but I've never thought of them as that, even at their beginning.

To me they're kind of a genre all of their own, but that seems to be the consensus of their sound, at least in the early albums.

Regardless of what you call it, the new album does not appear to have the same sound as their early releases. Though neither does SWB, and SWB is excellent, so that's not necessarily a bad thing!