The National will issue a new album and a companion short film entitled I Am Easy To Find on May 17 via 4AD. Additionally, the group confirmed a world tour, shared a trailer for the album as well as its first single – “You Had Your Soul With You.”
After a series of “special shows” in April, The National returns to the road in June. The group tours North America in June with Courtney Barnett aboard as support for most dates including stops in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Atlanta, St. Augustine, Washington D.C., Portland (Maine), Columbus, Ann Arbor and Indianapolis. The National heads to the U.K. and Europe in July and August. On August 28, The National begins a second leg of North American touring with Alvvays as support including visits to Palo Alto (California), Vancouver, Seattle, Portland (Oregon), Phoenix, Austin and Houston. The year ends with another swing through Europe. Tickets go on sale this Friday, March 8 at 10 a.m. local time.
I Am Easy To Find is both a 68-minute album by The National and 24-minute film by director Mike Mills. The genesis of the project is a September 3, 2017 email from Mills to National frontman Matt Berninger. Mills introduced himself and a collaboration was soon born. Berninger gave Mills a handful of songs from the Sleep Well Beast sessions as well as the decade-old “Rylan” as the soundtrack for a film. The National was planning to take a year off following the end of the tour for 2017’s Sleep Well Beast in October of 2018, but instead went back into the studio to write and record more material for Mills to work with.
The National enlisted a number of guests for their forthcoming album. “It’s a movie about a woman,” said Bryce Dessner, “so shouldn’t there be women’s voices? We’re a band that’s been largely defined by the sound of one person’s voice where suddenly now we’re hearing others.” David Bowie band mate Gail Ann Dorsey lends her talent to the record’s first single, “You Had Your Soul With You.” Lisa Hannigan, Eve Owen, Sharon Van Etten and Mina Tindle are also among those who appear on the LP. Plus, there are choral arrangements and strings on nearly every track. Mike Mills and The National produced I Am Easy To Find at Long Pond in the Hudson Valley, New York area.
Listen to “You Had Your Soul With You” and check out the trailer for the LP:
You Had Your Soul With You
I Am Easy To Find Trailer
I Am Easy To Find Tracklist
- You Had Your Soul With You
- Quiet Light
- Roman Holiday
- Oblivions
- The Pull Of You
- Hey Rosey
- I Am Easy To Find
- Her Father In The Pool
- Where Is Her Head
- Not In Kansas
- So Far So Fast
- Dust Swirls In Strange Light
- Hairpin Turns
- Rylan
- Underwater
- Light Years
