The National performed a new post-Boxer song called “A Thousand Black Cities” at Vega in Copenhagen last night. Ominous. The Danish crowd seems to dig it, especially the girl who’s laughing near the camera for the duration. The sound on the YouTube clip isn’t crystal clear, but seems like Matt Berninger’s ruminating on a quiet apocalypse in a neighborhood within a ridiculous country … and that it’s tied to a shift in the weather, smothering blue skies, and the exit’s smooth horns. But that’s just an early guess.
(Via The Music Slut)
Much airier and more mellow than its Current 93-esque title would lead you to believe. The guys are still out on the road, so you might get a chance to hear this in person:
08/13 – Aarhus, Denmark @ Train w/ Efterklang
08/15 – Biddinghuizen, NL @ Lowlands Festival
08/16 – Kiewit Hasselt, Belgium @ Pukkelpop Festival
08/17 – Becon Beacons, UK @ The Green Man Festival
09/19 – Seattle, WA @ Co-ops Rock! Benefit
09/20 – San Diego, CA @ Street Scene
10/24 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil @ Tim Festival
10/25 – Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Tim Festival
10/27 – Vitoria, Brazil @ Ufes Theatre
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Damn. I love The National.
i also LOVE the national and i definitely like the sound of this song.
Good to see they are working on new material!
Love this song too.
What road are they on that runs between Britain, California and Brazil?
I was at the concert, and the new song sounded great. A little more laidback/jazzy, for lack of a better term, than the previous releases, but still had that National touch. Can’t wait to see how they’re going to top Boxer:)
Great concert by the way, ended by Matt jumping down to the crowd and taking ‘Mr. November’ to new heights surround by the crowd. We even got some Tegan&Sara worthy banter between Matt and Scott, great entertainment when they fucked up the intro to ‘Fake empire’.
Damn, I cannot wait to see them in Seattle!
I think that on the concert the day before also on vega they played another new song, About Today. But I don’t have an extensive knowledge on their discography so I’m not sure if it’s new.
“About Today” is from their Cherry Tree EP that came about around the time of Aligator. If you like Boxer, check out Aligator, if you already have Aligator, check ou the Cherry Tree EP. If you like all three, go get Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. I have a hard time imagining anyone being disapointed by any of those.
I went to both shows at Vega and this was the only new track.
thanks for giving credit to music slut instead of IGIF who had the exclusive. assholes.