Formed in 1999, The National have established themselves as mainstays of arenas and festivals with sold-out performances and headlining slots around the world. The band has scored five top 10 albums on The Billboard 200, multiple Grammy nominations with 2017's Sleep Well Beast earning the award for Best Alternative Album, consisting of Matt Berninger (vocals) fronting two pairs of brothers: Aaron (guitar, bass, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar, piano), and Scott (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).
The National dropped not one but two new albums in 2023. First Two Pages of Frankenstein was released in April, followed by a surprise album Laugh Track in September, both on 4AD. Across two albums worth of new material they were joined by Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, Roseanne Cash, Bon Iver and Sufjian Stevens. 2023 was their best live year yet, selling out shows in North America and Europe, including Madison Square Garden, LA's Greek Theatre and Alexandra Palace in London.
Named one of their "Best Albums of 2023", Rolling Stone called First Two Pages of Frankenstein "...a remarkable reassertion of their potency and shared commitment...Nine albums deep, the National found new energy by conjuring not just a great, suffocating fog but also the far light that guides the way out." They were also named Forbes's "Band of the Year", with the article stating, "All The National did in 2023 was release two superb albums ... have a brilliant sold-out tour, deliver the festival set of the year with their riveting performance at BottleRock and collaborated with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Swift and Sufjan Stevens. The National are so consistently great it becomes easy to take for granted they will be at the top of their game. But even by their lofty standards this was an incredible year." And The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich named it as one of her favorites of the year, saying if you already like "what the National has been doing for the past two-plus decades - making brooding, fraught, atmospheric rock and roll, marked by careful, resonant production and a ribbon of debauched humor--you are likely to also savor First Two Pages of Frankenstein, a heady encapsulation of the band's entire gestalt."
