Sleep Well Beast: The National unleash game-changing teaser

Is this a preview of a new single? An album trailer? Both? Whatever's going on, consider our interests well and truly piqued. The ticker on the vid also boasts the Moby/Radiohead-esque line "The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness". Ooh. A new release would follow 2013's exceptional Trouble Will Find Me.

As well as the teaser there's been a big revamp on their website.

The National have been away a fair while, with all the members pursuing other projects - Matt Berninger's EL VY, Bryce Dessner's orchestral work, Invisible Bridge, plus Scott and Bryan Devendorf's LNZNDRF expedition to name just a few. The National as a unit have also dropped a few morsels into the ether, such as the mammoth A Lot Of Sorrow and Sharon Van Etten collab "Sunshine On My Back"; they also contributed to last year's Grateful Dead tribute and this year's titanic Bob's Burgers release

Back in 2014 the band's Scott Devendorf told us a bit about their plans for their seventh LP: "I think this time, personally, we've talked about doing some more writing as a band. There's definitely a desire to. We tend to write in isolation and come together to fit bits together. We should harness the time we've spent playing together as a band. We did this a little bit on Trouble Will Find Me, just playing together as a band versus recording in isolation and adding and stripping away. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't, but we want to capture the band energy for a more direct recorded sound. Not so much orchestration. At least initially... we've slowly been easing away from the grand orchestration, though we do like it..."

The National have a few live dates in the chamber for this summer, including Pitchfork Paris and Glastonbury.