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The National share new Sleep Well Beast single "Guilty Party"

29 June 2017, 10:03 | Written by Laurence Day

The National have shared "Guilty Party", the second single from upcoming record Sleep Well Beast.

Casey Reas - who helmed the clip for lead single "The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness" - is back to direct the visuals for "Guilty Party".

"The video is a dream about memory and the degradation of memory; it’s about distance in time and space," says Reas. "Time moves forward, but then backward as memory. The image of the two-faced Roman god Janus, who can look into the past and future, is the core visual language."

The record is the group's seventh in total and their first since 2013's exceptional Trouble Will Find Me. It's produced by Aaron Dessner with co-production by brother Bryce Dessner and Matt Berninger.

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 Deadtribute 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: "There's been chatter about working like we did on [third album] Alligator... [but] we have no desire to repeat and do anything again. It's for our own interest partly, and we also want to develop as musicians, people and a band."

The National are set to play a mammoth world tour, with shows across Europe, the UK, and North America scheduled for this autumn/winter - including four nights at London's Hammersmith Apollo. Get the full details.

Tracklist:

  1. Nobody Else Will Be There
  2. Day I Die
  3. Walk It Back
  4. The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness
  5. Born to Beg
  6. Turtleneck
  7. Empire Line
  8. I’ll Still Destroy You
  9. Guilty Party
  10. Carin At The Liquor Store
  11. Dark Side of the Gym
  12. Sleep Well Beast
Sleep Well Beast is out 8 September via 4AD. You can pre-order now.
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