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The National will release a new album called <em>Sleep Well Beast</em> in September, according to posters
The National will release a new album called Sleep Well Beast in September, according to posters
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The National will release a new album called Sleep Well Beast in September, according to posters

May 10, 2017
09:05 PM
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The National | Photo by John Vettese

New York City art rock outfit The National released its last proper album, Trouble Will Find Me, in 2013 — but they’ve been busy. We saw them play an enthralling Made In America set in 2014, they collaborated with Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson on the jointly released A Lot Of Sorrow in 2015, and last year curated Day of the Dead, a sprawling Grateful Dead tribute that raised money for the Red Hot Foundation.

Now, it appears the band has released details on its seventh proper studio album and, in its very National-esque style, the announcement was anything but a straightforward one. Rather, it came via abstract videos posted online — one featuring an MSNBC-ish crawl — and, more recently, through wheatpaste posters.

The latter news broke on Twitter via Charlotte, NC band Ghosts of the Kodiak — who doesn’t seem to have a hell of a lot of social media activity otherwise, having not Tweeted since July of 2016 prior to today, when they shared two poster images.

One poster declared “Album Sleep Well Beast out September 8″ with logos for 4AD Records and a URL to AmericanMary.com — that’s The National’s site, which currently houses a time lapse video of the band recording in a barn in some undisclosed remote location. The other poster image mentions a 2017 tour, with an October 6th date at Forest Hill Stadium in Queens with Daughter. There’s no further information on where these images were taken.

For The National’s part, their social media channels are still in teaser mode — so who knows, maybe this is all a ruse to bolster the social footprint of this NC band. (I’m listening to their Bandcamp now, it’s melodic post-emo jams, not bad / not amazing, but they list mewithoutYou as an influence and I’m into that. Maybe they share management or something.)

Whatever the case may be, it looks like we have something to look forward to in 2017 from the Berninger brothers and co. Follow the Twitter trail below, and check out the band’s very brief roster of tour dates.

The National 2017 Tour Dates:
06/21 – Pilton, UK @ Glastonbury Music Festival
08/12 – Copenhagen, DK @ HAVEN Festival
10/06 – Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
11/02 – Paris, FR @ Pitchfork Music Festival Paris

(h/t Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, The National, Ghosts of the Kodiak)