After several recent teases and an announcement last week that the band had finished mixing their new album, The National have announced “I Am Easy To Find“, their 8th Studio Album.
Alongside the news of the album they’ve previewed the first track from the album – “You Had Your Soul With You“. The track shares some similarities to the sound explored on “Sleep Well Beast” in the initial opening minutes before opening up to a more wide, cinematic scape with string accompaniments as the most striking element of the song is introduced when lead singer Matt Berninger is joined by Gail Ann Dorsey on vocals.
This won’t be the only time Berninger will be assisted on vocals as the album is set to feature a multitude of guess vocalists, including Gail Ann Dorsey, Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle and Kate Stables.
Berninger has commented on this in a press release, stating :“Yes, there are a lot of women singing on this, but it wasn’t because, ‘Oh, let’s have more women’s voices. It was more, ‘Let’s have more of a fabric of people’s identities.’ It would have been better to have had other male singers, but my ego wouldn’t let that happen.”
“I Am Easy To Find” is due out 17th May via 4AD and is to be accompanied by a short film sharing the same title, directed by Mike Mills and starring Alicia Vikander. Whilst the two are linked in someways, Mills has said that the two projects are “Playfully hostile siblings that love to steal from each other”
The National have a big year ahead of them and are playing shows throughout the US, Canada, UK and Europe.
