Are multiple Boygenius tearjerkers not enough for you today? Then you’ll be pleased to know the National is back with a new album, The First Two Pages of Frankenstein, out April 28. It even features Boygenius’s Phoebe Bridgers — along with some of your other favorite songwriters to weep to, Taylor Swift and Sufjan Stevens. Not to mention, of course, Matt Berninger himself, who’s been giving you that sweet, teary-eyed catharsis for over 20 years. The Swift collab isn’t totally out of left field; she’s been working with the National’s Aaron Dessner on a few albums and dueted with Berninger on her 2020 song “coney island.” Stevens also previously worked with the National on 2007’s The Boxer and with member Bryce Dessner on the 2017 album Planetarium. (Oh, and they used to be neighbors in Brooklyn!) Swift is featured on a song called “The Alcott,” while Stevens is on opening track “Once Upon a Poolside.” Bridgers, meanwhile, who has never collaborated with the group, contributed to two songs, “This Isn’t Helping” and “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend.” That stacked track list is the latest in a collaborative era for the band after they worked with director Mike Mills on their previous album and its corresponding film, I Am Easy to Find.
You’ll have to wait a bit to get any of those, though. For now, the National has kicked things off with the brooding “Tropic Morning News,” a song Berninger wrote with his wife and regular collaborator, Carin Besser, about a creative dry spell that preceded the album. In the chorus, Berninger declares, “There’s nothing stopping me now / From saying all the painful parts out loud.” As any fan knows, that’s quite the promise from this band. Find the full track list of The First Two Pages of Frankenstein below.
1. Once Upon a Poolside (feat. Sufjan Stevens)
2. Eucalyptus
3. New Order T-Shirt
4. This Isn’t Helping (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
5. Tropic Morning News
6. Alien
7. The Alcott (feat. Taylor Swift)
8. Grease in Your Hair
9. Ice Machines
10. Your Mind Is Not Your Friend (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
11. Send for Me
