“Eucalyptus” by The National

Matt Berninger wrote the words to "Eucalyptus" and the music with Bryce Dessner; it arrived on April 26, 2023, two days ahead of First Two Pages of Frankenstein, the National's ninth studio album, released on 4AD. The band produced the album themselves at Long Pond, a studio in upstate New York.

With the pandemic wiping out their touring after I Am Easy to Find, the members drifted apart: Berninger made a solo record, Serpentine Prison; Bryce Dessner, now based in France, wrote film scores and classical pieces; Aaron Dessner produced two Taylor Swift albums and made a second Big Red Machine album with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon; Bryan and Scott Devendorf helped other musicians. Once work on the new album began, it stalled while Berninger sat in a dark place where neither lyrics nor melodies would come.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.