Have You Heard?
The National - Sunshine on my Back
This gives few genuine pointers as to what’s truly next from the band, but what a lovely surprise all the same.
It’s not entirely clear what prompted The National to make ‘Sunshine on my Back’ public; going off both the tone of the song itself and the design and typeface of the accompanying artwork, it’s presumably taken from the same sessions as the band’s 2013 record ‘Trouble Will Find Me’, an album they were supposed to have brought the curtain down on last November with their huge show at The O2 Arena.
New material from this band is never unwelcome, though, and while this might not necessarily placate fans still wondering what happened to ‘Rylan’ - a track aired live ahead of TWFM’s release, but never actually released - it’s a worthy complement to that album. The guitars simmer, and this time Matt Berninger’s brooding over Tina, as opposed to the ‘Jennifer’ who cropped up more than once on TWFM. Sharon Van Etten’s gorgeously understated backing vocals are key, too, and remind us just how pivotal a role she and Annie Clark played on ‘Trouble Will Find Me’. Given that this was recorded a couple of years back now, there’s few genuine pointers as to what’s truly next, then, but what a lovely surprise all the same.
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