The National: Last News

Questlove and Aaron Dessner both received honorary degrees from Philadelphia’s University Of The Arts this week (May 19).The event was the university’s first in-person graduation ceremony since 2019 due to COVID-related cancellations.Speaking about his collaborations with Taylor Swift in 2020, Dessner told the crowd: “Making this music became a life raft in the middle of the pandemic. In April 2020, Taylor Swift texted me out of the blue one night when I was sitting at dinner.

IDLES, Holly Humberstone, Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler, will be joining the festival’s 2022 line-up.The National and The Chemical Brothers were previously announced as headliners of the Scottish festival, which takes place at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre from August 26 – 28. View the line-up poster below.Other names on the bill for the rebooted event, include Mogwai, Little Simz, Self Esteem, Black Country, New Road, Jon Hopkins, Black Coffee, Bonobo, Bombay Bicycle Club, John Grant, LOW, Idlewild and more.

Jim Sclavunos, the drummer from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, has shared a solo cover of Bob Dylan‘s ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’ with The National‘s Scott Devendorf. Check out the charity single below, along with our interview with the musician.The Bad Seeds drummer’s second solo release, following from last year’s ‘Holiday Song’ to benefit the Music Venue Trust, sees Sclavunos team up with Devendorf on bass and Dave Sherman (Valerie June, Nicole Atkins) on piano – with all money raised from the BandCamp sales going to the DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal and Ellis Park Wildlife Sanctuary.

The National have announced a special show in Manchester for this summer – tickets will be available from here.The band last performed in the UK as part of their ‘I Am Easy To Find’ tour in December 2019, and are set to return with appearances at All Points East in London and Connect Festival in Edinburgh this August.Last week, they confirmed a run of 2022 North American headline dates. “The last couple years have given us ample time for reflection and rejuvenation,” they wrote to announce the concerts.

The National have announced dates for their 2022 North American tour. Tickets will be available here.“We are excited to finally share our full tour itinerary for summer 2022,” the National said.“The last couple years have given us ample time for reflection and rejuvenation. Summer 2022 is a time for reunion.

The National‘s Bryce Dessner has said that the band’s upcoming new album harks back to their “classic” sound, as well as having a “lot of energy in it”.The guitarist and composer was speaking to The Up Coming about his and the band’s work on the music for the new Peter Dinklage-starring movie adaptation of Cyrano when he was asked when new material would arrive from The National.Admitting that he “wasn’t sure when new music will come”, Dessner did insist that they were “working on it” and it should be “imminent at some point” ahead of the band’s packed summer of festivals and live dates – as well as revealing that it would take a much more stripped-back approach than the lush predecessor of 2019’s ‘I Am Easy To Find‘.“It’s all very exciting: it kind of feels back to the classic National sound in a way, which was really just the five of us, and it has a lot of energy in it,” said Dessner. “Maybe it’s like bursting out of the closed doors of COVID or something? I don’t know.

Pitchfork has announced the lineup for the 2022 edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival. Mitski, The Roots, and The National will headline the three-day concert taking place July 15-17 in Chicago's Union Park.

Ed Sheeran has revealed that he’s written 25 songs with The National‘s Aaron Dessner – and that they were done in the space of a week.The singer-songwriter appeared at the High Court this morning (March 7) for the start of a three-week legal battle over the copyright of his hit single ‘Shape Of You’.Sheeran is involved in a dispute with two musicians who claim his 2017 track borrows parts of their song ‘Oh Why’, which was released in March 2015.Sami Chokri (who performs under Sami Switch) and Ross O’Donoghue claim Sheeran’s song is similar to “particular lines and phrases” of their own song. Sheeran has denied the claims.During court proceedings this morning, Sheeran faced a number of questions about the creation of ‘Shape Of You’ as well as his songwriting process as a whole.At one point he told the court that he had written 25 songs in the space of a week with Aaron Dessner of The National,” according to BBC News reporter Mark Savage. No further information on the songs was shared.Speaking at his copyright trial in London's High Court, @edsheeran says he recently wrote 25 songs in the space of a week with @Aaron_Dessner of The National.— Mark Savage (@mrdiscopop) March 7, 2022In addition to his work as part of The National, Dessner is also responsible for co-producing Taylor Swift‘s latest albums, ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’.

Massive Attack, The National and The Chemical Brothers will headline its 2022 event.The latest addition to the Scottish festival calendar will take place at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre from August 26–28.Other names on the bill for the rebooted event, which was announced yesterday (February 22), include Mogwai, Little Simz, Self Esteem, Black Country, New Road, Jon Hopkins, Black Coffee, Bonobo, Bombay Bicycle Club, John Grant, LOW, Idlewild and more.Massive Attack will take to the Grand Parade Stage on the Friday; The Chemical Brothers will top the bill on the Saturday; and The National will close out proceedings on the Sunday.“We are delighted to be announcing our line-up for Connect today,” said DF Concerts & Events CEO, Geoff Ellis. “For some time now we have been working tirelessly and carefully to curate a captivating line-up for the first edition of our new iteration of Connect and we have been really excited to share it.“While Connect is a brand new festival proposition, it will still retain many qualities from – and the ethos of – its namesake from 2007 and 2008, especially regarding the music, entertainment, food and drink programmes.Ellis added: “We are thrilled to be welcoming the very best in left field talent from grassroots through to award-winning headliners to perform this year and we cannot wait to welcome fans to the Royal Highland Showgrounds this August.”This is Connect 2022.Sign-up for access to pre-sale:https://t.co/ZVj8UkwnJGFor your chance to win 4 weekend tickets to Connect 2022, head over to our Instagram account.

The National, Father John Misty, Brandi Carlile, and more have been announced for the first Sound on Sound Music Festival.Organized by Founders Entertainment, the same people behind Governors Ball, the festival will take place September 24 – 25 in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s Seaport Park. Tickets will be available to the public Friday (February 18).

Caroline Spence has teamed up with The National’s Matt Berninger for her latest single.‘I Know You Know Me’ is the follow-up to Spence’s 2019 release, ‘Mint Condition’ and will be included on her yet to be named fifth studio album which is slated for release this year.The slow-burning track opens with acoustic guitar before Spence and Berninger exchange loving sentiments over lush instrumentation, duetting, “No matter where the storm is in my mind/ It’ll never be a place that you can’t find/ You hold the candle, oh, you hold the key/ I know you know me“. “I’m still beside myself that Matt agreed to be a part of this song,” Spence said. “I recorded my own solo version for my upcoming record, but always saw potential for it as a duet.

The Wrens Kevin Whelan has opened up about his feelings towards the success of The National in a new interview.During a conversation on an episode of the Discograffiti podcast, Whelan reflects on his career and compares The Wrens to other bands – including The National, who he called their “nemesis”.He said: “We never made it. And we knew it.

Fucked Up have shared the sprawling new video for ‘Year Of The Horse’, as the band also celebrate the 10th anniversary reissue of ‘David Comes To Life’. Check out the video below, along with our interview with frontman Damian Abraham.‘Year Of The Horse’ is the latest in the band’s Zodiac series of albums, released periodically to coincide with the Chinese new year.

The National have shared brand new song ‘Somebody Desperate’, which features in the end credits of the new film adaptation of Cyrano – check it out below, along with NME’s exclusive interview with frontman Matt Berninger.Based on the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac – a fictionalised account of the self-conscious, swashbucking, lovelorn poet of the same name – the new adaptation of Cyrano stars Game Of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage in the titular role, and will come to UK cinemas in January.

Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage joined The National‘s Bryce and Aaron Dessner for a performance on Colbert this week – check it out below.The trio performed the song ‘Your Name’, which appears on the Dessner twins’ new soundtrack for the Dinklage-starring film adaptation of Cyrano, due out in UK cinemas in January.It was announced last year that MGM had acquired the rights to the film, which will be directed by Joe Wright and see Peter Dinklage reprising his role as Cyrano De Bergerac from the 2018 musical that played at the historic Goodspeed Opera House’s Terris Theatre.The Cyrano OST will be released via Decca Records in vinyl and CD formats on December 10, with the film coming to UK cinemas in January.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, The National, Tame Impala and Kraftwerk are among the headliners for All Points East 2022 – see the full line-up below.As announced last week (November 19), the festival, which is held in London’s Victoria Park, will return for two editions in 2022, running run across two weekends: Friday, August 19 – Saturday, August 20 and Thursday, August 25 – Sunday, August 28.Also set to play the festival, which has seven headliners across six days, are The Chemical Brothers, Disclosure and Gorillaz.Joining the headliners at the events are the likes of IDLES, James Blake, Caroline Polachek, Michael Kiwanuka, Fleet Foxes and more.See the full line-up for All Points East 2022 below.

Aaron and Bryce Dessner – best known for their roles in The National– have shared ‘I Won’t Remember?’. It’s the first preview of their soundtrack to the forthcoming Joaquin Phoenix drama C’mon C’mon –  check it out below.The new track is hauntingly beautiful, minimalistic slice of instrumental ambience, with gentle synths and warm organs simmering and swelling with an emotive spark.C’mon C’mon is set to hit cinemas on November 19 as the latest in the ever-burgeoning echelon of A24 films.

The National have added their entire catalogue to Bandcamp to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut album.“Today we take a moment to recognize the 20th Anniversary of our self-titled debut album,” the band wrote in an Instagram post last night (October 29).

Aaron Dessner has performed Big Red Machine’s ‘The Ghost Of Cincinnati’ on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – watch it below.It’s taken from Big Red Machine’s latest album, ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last’, their second album together which was released at the end of August.Reviewing the album, NME said: “The record covers the full range of human emotion and is huge in scope: from birth to death via love, friends, break-up, make-ups, what-could-have-beens and more.“The epitome of the figurative “beating heart” that formed Big Red Machine, this is an autumnal album, one that lays the duo bare emotionally, and one that frequently calls for reflection.”Watch the performance here:Aaron recently spoke to NME with his brother Bryce

The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner were working on a musical version of the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac, with lyrics from the band’s frontman Matt Berninger and his wife Carin Besser.Later that year, the play – titled Cyrano and starring Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage in the title role – enjoyed a short run at the historic Goodspeed Opera House’s Terris Theatre in Connecticut, before heading off-Broadway in New York City the following year.Studio MGM then acquired the rights to the film, which is directed by Joe Wright from a script written by Dinklage’s wife Erica Schmidt, and stars Haley Bennett opposite Dinklage as Roxanne.

The National‘s Aaron and Bryce Dessner have announced details of their soundtrack for the upcoming film adaptation of musical Cyrano.It was announced last year that MGM had acquired the rights to the film, which will be directed by Joe Wright and see Peter Dinklage reprising his role as Cyrano De Bergerac from the 2018 musical that played at the historic Goodspeed Opera House’s Terris Theatre.The Cyrano OST will be released via Decca Records in vinyl and CD formats on December 10, with the film coming to UK cinemas in January.The music has been written and composed by the Dessner twins, while National frontman Matt Berninger and his wife Carin Besser have written lyrics for the score, which will be performed by Dinklage and more.A new song