The National have been busting out new material during their most recent concerts. In Berlin last night, at the Michelbergerhotel, the rock group played three previously unheard tracks: “Heavenfaced,” “Fireproof” and “Graceless.”
Before that, this winter, the National played a couple more newbies during All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK, and one for Q magazine. If that doesn’t tell you enough, yes, the band has always done very well overseas.
Speaking of which, frontman Matt Berninger had a sit-down with NME for this week’s issue. He talks on how this new album, “Trouble Will Find Me,” things get a little dark. They had to.
“It’s a record about getting older, and all the fascinations and headaches that go with that,” he said. “But it’s not grim, honestly! It’s actually pretty fun. Bands spend a lot of time in vans. You go to sleep knowing you’re on a coach that has to get from France to Germany in 10 hours and you wonder, ‘What if I never wake up? I have a daughter. What’ll happen to her if something happens to me?'” he said.
“Trouble Will Find Me” is out on May 21, and features guests like Sufjan Stevens, St. Vincent and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry. It’s their first album since 2010’s “High Violet.”
“Heavenfaced”
“Fireproof”
“Graceless”
“I Should Live in Salt”
“Humiliation”
“I Need My Girl”