Indie Rock giants The National have announced that their new album, I Am Easy to Find, is set for release on May 17 on the 4AD label. The LP is the follow-up to 2017's Grammy-winning Sleep Well Beast. The group also released album-opening track "You Had Your Soul With You," which features vocals from David Bowie collaborator Gail Ann Dorsey. Other guests featured on the album include Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan and Mina Tindle.
The new album will be accompanied by a short film of the same name directed by Mike Mills (not the R.E.M. bassist, but the award-winning director of 20th Century Women and Beginners) and starring Swedish actor Alicia Vikander. Mills also co-produced the I Am Easy to Find album (with the band), which, according to a press release, was "mostly recorded at Long Pond, Hudson Valley, NY with additional sessions in Paris, Berlin, Cincinnati, Austin, Dublin, Brooklyn and more far flung locations."
A trailer for the I Am Easy to Find film was also released today.
The treasure trove of new National news also included an extensive slate of tour dates that kicks off in earnest on June 11 in Philly. Even though The National members are Cincinnati natives, business is business and the Queen City is still considered a "secondary market" for bigger touring acts, so no Cincy dates are included on the first leg of the I Am Easy to Find tour. But the band will be in nearby Columbus, Ohio (at Express Live) on June 24 and in Indianapolis on June 26 (at the Lawn at White River State Park). Tickets to both of those shows (featuring Courtney Barnett as the opener) go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. via ticketmaster.com.
Pre-order/pre-save I Am Easy To Find here.