First Two Pages of Frankenstein by The National

First Two Pages of Frankenstein, the ninth album from the National, came out on 4AD on April 28, 2023, and it finds the band at their most hushed and inward. They produced it themselves at Long Pond in upstate New York, and the arrangements are all soft focus: piano and gently picked guitars from the Dessner twins, Aaron and Bryce, Scott Devendorf's bass and Bryan Devendorf's restless drums tucked in low, and Matt Berninger murmuring close to the mic like he's trying not to wake anyone.

It's a record with friends in the room, too, with Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift all stopping by, but the guests melt into the fog rather than steal the scene. "Weird Goodbyes", "Tropic Morning News" and "Eucalyptus" carried it onto the radio, and a companion set, Laugh Track, followed that September, much of it written and recorded alongside this one.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.