Rome is the definitive live document of The National. Recorded live, without overdubs, on 3 June 2024 at the architecturally stunning venue Parco Della Musica Ennio Morricone – named for the famed Italian film composer – the 21-track LP showcases scintillating versions of beloved songs like ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, ‘Don’t Swallow the Cap’, ‘I Need My…
We’ve got some more peaches due for release on 17th November, and the first is Songs of Silence – incredibly, Vince Clarke’s first ever solo album. As its title suggests, Songs of Silence is a lyric-less instrumental album, and is hugely evocative for that. Unlike anything you’ve previously heard from Clarke as an artisan of…
The surprise companion to The National’s April release First Two Pages of Frankenstein, Laugh Track is the band’s most freewheeling, all-hands-on-deck album in years. If Frankenstein represented a rebuilding of trust between group members after 20+ years together, the vibrant, exploratory Laugh Track is both the product of that faith and a new statement of…
Josh Ritter kicks off this week’s soaraway six with his 11th album, Spectral Lines, in which he finds shared experiences in songs that push beyond the bounds of his previous work. Recorded with longtime collaborator Sam Kassirer producing, it’s an album full of wonder and light as Ritter considers the ideas of love, devotion and…
Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, First Two Pages Of Frankenstein signals a thrilling new chapter in the The National’s discography. The 11-song album was produced by the band at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens. First Two Pages…
This week’s smashers start off with Small World Turning, the first new collection of songs from Thea Gilmore since 2017’s The Counterweight, which was her third successive Top-40 album. An artist of enduring international acclaim (Bruce Springsteen regularly names her as a favourite) and a justly revered lyricist, Gilmore’s musical settings have taken many ingenious…
The National’s new album, I Am Easy To Find, is the band’s eighth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s Grammy-award winning Sleep Well Beast. The album features vocal contributions from Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle and more. As the album’s opening track, ‘You Had Your Soul With You,’ unfurls,…
Here are our recommended new releases for 8 September. Of Nothing But Thieves’ second album, Broken Machine, the band say: “The aim on Broken Machine was to create a rock album that feels fresh and exciting.” Job done! Micah P. Hinson is our favourite purveyor of the very darkest and most gothic Americana and his…
Pre-sale of the week is Sleep Well Beast by The National, out on 8 September. Sleep Well Beast, the seventh album from The National, is out on the 8th of September. Produced by member Aaron Dessner with co-production by Bryce Dessner and Matt Berninger, Sleep Well Beast was mixed by Peter Katis and recorded at…
30 October is a huge day for new releases and could easily have included Enter Shikari, Martin Courtney, Son Volt, Maverick Sabre, Alison Moorer and more. The 8 stand-out releases are: Guy Garvey’s solo album, which confounds the stereotypes of lead-singer solo albums either being the same as the band or frankly bonkers; Matt Behringer’s…