The National – Sleep Well Beast (2xLP, White Vinyl)

The band recorded twelve new songs last year at Aaron Dessner's Long Pond Studio in New York and at several other locations, including Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin. The Dessner brothers and singer Matt Berninger were responsible for the production of the record.

In their usual dark-melodic-rock manner and with the unmistakable baritone voice of Matt Berninger, The National once again indulge in melancholy on "Sleep Well Beast". How they sound exactly in 2017, they already revealed in May with the first single release, the surprisingly aggressive "The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness".

Reviews

"Almost eclectic, this mix of laid-back folk, slow trotting indie rock, Leonard Cohen reminiscences and hard oscillating basslines in between." (stereoplay, October 2017)

"Finally, a new album from The National! It's a gift, as always." (Rolling Stone, September 2017)

"The National definitively qualify as masters of sophisticated fragile pop." (LP, Issue 1/2018)

AllMusic rating: