The National to Begin Recording New Album Soon

The National are beginning work on the follow-up to 2013′s Trouble Will Find Me. In a new interview with Pitchfork, Aaron Dessner said that he’s recently finished building a new studio at his home in upstate New York, where the National will “start recording soon” for their upcoming album. He was speaking with Pitchfork’s Laura Snapes for our new feature “Grateful Dead Live On: Why the Legendary Band Still Matters” about Day of the Dead (the all-star Dead tribute box set put together by Dessner with his brother Bryce).

Dessner said of the studio, “We need a new home because everybody is scattered,” since frontman Matt  Berninger now lives in Los Angeles and Bryce splits his time between the Catskills and Paris. He adds that he’s “been really, really working hard on the National stuff now, so that’s mainly, almost every day,” and that they will “do the whole record there, because it’ll just be fun and a good feeling.”

He added, “I put out a lot of records recently and I feel like I need to focus on my own music, it’ll be a different thing, a really different part of your brain, and I’m excited to get back.”

Dessner’s update follows a November 2015 interview in which Berninger said the National met earlier that year for writing sessions and called 15 of the songs “very fucking amazing.” He said of their new songwriting and recording approach, “It’s changing the National, the way we’re doing it.” In the same interview, Dessner said they’re also taking a more stripped-down approach to songwriting: “We’re not afraid, I think, to write hooks now.” He described their new songs as “a bit razory,” “brighter,” and “a little bit harsher.” Berninger has also said that the new album will not arrive in 2016.

Recently, the National have started sharing photos on Instagram of what appears to be the new recording studio. Check those out below. They also revealed on Instagram that they will perform a track from Day of the Dead on “Colbert” on Monday night, May 9.

Check out the new feature with Aaron Dessner, Bill Callahan, Angel Olsen, and more, “Grateful Dead Live On: Why the Legendary Band Still Matters.”

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