Listen to TheNational's new song with boniver
has released the new song “Weird Goodbyes” featuring Bon Iver, which the band has already been playing live minus Justin Vernon during its summer world tour.
“It’s about letting go of the past and moving on, then later being overwhelmed by second thoughts,” says frontman Matt Berninger of “Weird Goodbyes,” which will appear on the band’s in-progress next studio album.The National’s Aaron Dessner says “Weird Goodbyes” is one of the first new song the band worked on in the wake of the 2019 album.
Dessner, who works closely with Vernon in their Big Red Machine project, says he “somehow could hear” Vernon’s “voice and heart in this song from the beginning. We sent it to him and it moved him — he then sang with Matt so powerfully.” The finished product is the first appearance by Vernon on a National studio recording and also features strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra as orchestrated by The National’s Bryce Dessner.
In an interview today on Apple Music, Dessner said of “Weird Goodbyes,” “I hear the old engine of the National, and I hear also new places we’re going to.
After a short break, The National’s tour resumes Aug. 26 at London’s All Points East festival and wraps Sept. 25 at the new Sound on Sound festival in Bridgeport, Ct.