The National have released the much rumoured second album, “Laugh Track”, which could act as a companion to “First Two Pages Of Frankenstein”. The album is out now via 4ad.

TRACKLIST:

1. Alphabet City
2. Deep End (Paul’s in Pieces)
3. Weird Goodbyes (feat. Bon Iver)
4. Turn Off the House
5. Dreaming
6. Laugh Track (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
7. Space Invader
8. Hornets
9. Coat on a Hook
10. Tour Manager
11. Crumble (feat. Rosanne Cash)
12. Smoke Detector

They’ve also shared a new song with it, “Deep End (Paul’s In Pieces)”

Aaron Dessner shared this about howThe National has often bailed on grand ideas of making a rock record. “It’s not because we don’t enjoy sitting in a room banging around ideas. It’s just that it wasn’t that productive, so we developed a fairly elaborate way of building songs in which Bryan Devendorf had a very important but compartmentalized role. This time we had the desire to make something that was more alive so that Bryan’s playing would drive more.”

Thematically, there’s no intentional split between Frankenstein and Laugh Track. But if the former found frontman Matt Berninger in search of sanctuary, here there is a newly clear-eyed assessment of what matters. His fierce need for intimacy is heightened by an ever-greater fear of modern life’s unreality. The characters on this album (no first names, other than a tour manager named Alice – just “I” and “you”) cover for one another, dream for one another, and help maintain appearances – living up to the promise of absolute care that Matt made on Frankenstein closer ‘Send for Me’.