The National – live at BBC 6 Music Festival 2014 – BBC 6 Music
The National in concert this week, recorded live at the BBC 6 Music Festival April 1, 2014.
Founded by Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, Scott Devendorf and Bryan Devendorf, The National released their self-titled debut album, The National (2001), on Brassland Records, an independent record label founded by Aaron and his twin brother, Bryce Dessner. Bryce, who had assisted in recording the album, soon joined the band, participating as a full member in the recording of its follow-up, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (2003).
Aaron and Bryce Dessner write and develop the music which Matt Berninger then responds to, building lyrics on the music Aaron and Bryce have written. Matt has said that the melody and the rhythm come first and then words and imagery will start to stick to a melody, stating, “I never sit and fill a journal with lyrics.” Kitty Empire in The Guardian characterised the band as exploring “literate rock that presents at first as artily sombre, and eventually as one of the most nuanced 21st-century iterations of what used to be known as “college rock”.
In June 2014, the National played three consecutive shows at the Celebrate Brooklyn Music Festival. The band closed the summer of 2014 with performances at major festivals throughout Europe, including NorthSide, Pukkelpop, Way Out West, and Lowlands, and continued to headline festivals in the U.S. and Canada throughout the fall.[citation needed] The National returned to headline The Boston Calling Music Festival in September 2014, along with Lorde and The Replacements. In an interview published in June 2014, Berninger stated that the National would try a new approach to writing and recording an album, with plans to start in October 2014.
In January 2023, the band started to share teases of a forthcoming announcement – including a password-protected passage from Frankenstein shared on their website, edited to include references to Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and Sufjan Stevens. A week later, the band officially announced their ninth studio album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, which is set for release on April 28. The news came with the release of its first single, “Tropic Morning News”. Bridgers, Swift and Stevens were also confirmed to featured on the album, as were the previously-performed songs “Grease in Your Hair” and “Ice Machines”.
The National has been compared to Joy Division, Leonard Cohen, Interpol, Wilco, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The band’s lyrics have been described as “dark, melancholy and difficult to interpret.”
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