The new “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend” has all the foundations of a song by The National: it’s gloomy and cinematic with heavy falling drums that set a pensive, marching pace. Phoebe Bridgers joins for a subtle feature echoing lead singer Matt Berninger. (The pair have been collaborators since they were first matched in Zach Galifianakis’ Between Two Ferns: The Movie, and Bridgers toured with The National in 2018 supporting their album Sleep Well Beast.)
Pulled from Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein, “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend” inspired the record’s title, First Two Pages of Frankenstein. “When I feel stuck [with writer’s block], I’ll often grab a book off the shelf just to get some words in my head,” says Berninger in a press release. “And the first two pages of Frankenstein ended up triggering ‘Your Mind Is Not Your Friend.’ The book starts off with the narrator on a voyage near the Arctic Circle and that image of being adrift helped me to write about feeling disconnected and lost and lacking in purpose.”
The song’s music video stars Berninger’s brother Tom, who also directed The National’s 2014 movie Mistaken For Strangers. And keeping with the sibling theme, the band hired Phoebe Bridgers’ brother Jackson to direct the kaleidoscopic video. Addressing the song’s emphasis on mental health, The National donated to TinyChanges.org, a charity inspired by the legacy of Scott Hutchinson, lead singer of Frightened Rabbit.
Watch the video for “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend” below. You can find tickets for The National’s Philly show at The Met with The Beths on August 2nd at the WXPN Concerts and Events tab. If you’re planning on going, get tickets now; the first date on August 1st has already sold out.