The National are officially teasing their ninth album

13 January 2023, 17:02 | Written by Cerys Kenneally

(News)

(The National)

The National are officially teasing their ninth album, and have shared a short clip of lead vocalist Matt Berninger reading Frankenstein at a piano.

Back in March 2022, Bryce Dessner gave an update on The National's follow-up to 2019's I Am Easy To Find album, saying 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. Maybe it’s like bursting out of the closed doors of Covid or something? I don’t know."

The National then sent out postcards to fans with the words "Tranquilize the Mind", and today they've unveiled a 25-second video of Matt Berninger reading Frankenstein while sat at a piano, which is soundtracked by a sparse piano piece. They've also shared a link to their site with the phrase "lp9" in the URL.

https://t.co/1UN27iaMdC pic.twitter.com/R0ioGRoxBx
— The National (@TheNational) January 13, 2023

The site is password-protected, but according to Exclaim!, if you use the phrases "EVIL FOREBODINGS" or "TRANQUILIZE THE MIND", it'll show a video with an image of the Frankenstein book, and plays snippets of two new songs.

If you look closely, it's not the original Frankenstein book, it's a passage that fans believe is teasing some of the collaborators on the record, such as Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift and Sufjan Stevens, and some track titles.

The National posted a video hinting collaborations with Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens pic.twitter.com/sI4z3B72zL
— The Swift Society (@TheSwiftSociety) January 13, 2023