First Two Pages of Frankenstein | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 28, 2023 | |||
Studio | Long Pond (Hudson Valley, New York) | |||
Genre | Rock [1] | |||
Length | 47:34 | |||
Label | 4AD | |||
Producer | The National | |||
The National chronology | ||||
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Singles from First Two Pages of Frankenstein | ||||
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First Two Pages of Frankenstein is the ninth studio album by the American indie rock band the National, released on April 28, 2023, by 4AD. [3] The album was produced by The National at Long Pond studio in upstate New York and features guest appearances from Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers, and Taylor Swift. [4]
After the release of I Am Easy to Find (2019) and the cancellation of The National's touring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band members retreated from each other. Lead singer and lyricist Matt Berninger released the solo record Serpentine Prison . Bryce Dessner, now living in France, worked on film scores and classical compositions. Aaron Dessner produced two albums by Taylor Swift and recorded the highly collaborative How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? , the second studio album with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon as part of their side-project Big Red Machine. Bryan and Scott Devendorf assisted other musicians with making their music. [5]
Work on a ninth National album was initially stalled while Berninger navigated "a very dark spot where I couldn't come up with lyrics or melodies at all. Even though we'd always been anxious whenever we were working on a record, this was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end." [6] Bryce Dessner said that the band eventually "managed to come back together and approach everything from a different angle, and because of that we arrived at what feels like a new era for the band." [7] According to Aaron Dessner, a turning point came with the lead single "Tropic Morning News", which was co-written with Berninger's wife, Carin Besser, and partly recorded live in Hamburg: "When Matt came in with that song in the depths of his depression, it felt like a turning point for us. It's almost Dylan-esque in its lyrics and it's so much fun to play; everything suddenly felt like it was coming alive again." [8] [9]
The album was produced by the National at Aaron Dessner's Long Pond studio in Hudson Valley, New York. It features guest vocalists Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift. [6] Additional recording sessions took place at numerous studios and locations across the United States and Europe. The album also features the London Contemporary Orchestra, who recorded sessions at The Empire Studio in London in May 2022, and at RAK Studios in London in August 2022. [10]
Created by the design company Pentagram, the front cover of First Two Pages of Frankenstein features a photograph of a young boy holding a mannequin's head. The photograph was taken by the boy's father, John Solimine, an illustrator and longtime friend of vocalist Matt Berninger. [11] Solimine and Berninger met as dishwashers in a Cincinnati restaurant. [11] Solimine has previously worked with the National on several concert posters and alongside Berninger on illustrations for his side project EL VY. [11] In possible relation to the album's title, Solimine released a children's book titled Does Frankenstein Get Hungry? in 2018. [11]
Bass guitarist Scott Devendorf, a former graphic designer who works closely on the band's album covers, described the mannequin as "not a phrenological head". [11] Exclaim! listed the album cover as 24th worst of the year, quoting journalist Matty Monroe's tweet comparing it to those of Walk the Moon, Cold War Kids, Cage the Elephant, Twenty One Pilots, Grouplove and Fitz and the Tantrums. [12]
On August 19, 2022, Aaron Dessner revealed in an interview with Laura Barton in the i newspaper that a new National album was scheduled for 2023. [5] A standalone single, "Weird Goodbyes", featuring Bon Iver, was released three days later. [13] The National first teased the album on social media on January 13, 2023, with a video of Berninger reading Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein on a piano bench. The posts linked to a password-protected page on their official website. The unlocked page featured an image of an open book with text mirroring Shelley's novel, but written as a letter addressed "To Mrs. Bridgers, England" and mentioning people named "Taylor" and "Uncle Sufjan". [14] [15]
First Two Pages of Frankenstein was officially announced on January 18, 2023, with the release of the album's lead single, "Tropic Morning News", and the announcement of a supporting tour starting in May 2023. [16] The tour will feature the opening acts Patti Smith, Soccer Mommy, the Beths, and Bartees Strange. [17] A second single, "New Order T-Shirt", was released on February 23, 2023. The release was accompanied by the sale of a limited edition T-shirt created in partnership with New Order. [18] A third single, "Eucalyptus", was released on March 22, 2023. [19] The fourth single, "Your Mind Is Not Your Friend", was released on April 12, 2023. [20] "The Alcott" was released as the fifth single to Italian radio stations on April 28, 2023. [2] It was released to US triple A radio on May 1, 2023. [21]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 7.5/10 [22] |
Metacritic | 79/100 [23] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [24] |
Clash | 8/10 [25] |
The Daily Telegraph | [26] |
The Independent | [27] |
Mojo | [28] |
NME | [29] |
The Observer | [30] |
Pitchfork | 6.6/10 [1] |
Rolling Stone | [31] |
Uncut | 8/10 [11] |
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 79, based on 21 reviews. [23]
Andrew Trendell of NME gave the album a perfect 5-star rating, deeming it the band's best album since Trouble Will Find Me . [29] James Mellen of Clash praised the album's "level of fluidity and richness stitched together with the highest calibre of performance, production and songwriting. Like Frankenstein and his monster, the commitment to the design and blueprint of this record is incredible; every minute detail, sound, glitch, has been selected with the utmost care by The National". [25] Rolling Stone 's Clayton Purdom called it "a remarkable reassertion of the band's potency". [31]
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine declared that, "Melodies aren't absent, but they're not forceful, they're sung as suggestions. Forward movement is achieved through shifts in texture and feel, momentum created through layers of harmony and weaving acoustic instruments through electronic beddings." [24]
In a mixed review, Grayson Haver Currin of Mojo called it "a sometimes-striking record that suggests new ground without actually reaching it". [28] Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen of The Sydney Morning Herald questioned if the band "might be stagnating with this release, which has less of the daring ideas they've explored on their last few". [32]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Once Upon a Poolside" (featuring Sufjan Stevens) |
| 3:36 |
2. | "Eucalyptus" |
| 4:24 |
3. | "New Order T-Shirt" |
| 4:56 |
4. | "This Isn't Helping" (featuring Phoebe Bridgers) |
| 4:04 |
5. | "Tropic Morning News" |
| 5:09 |
6. | "Alien" |
| 4:07 |
7. | "The Alcott" (featuring Taylor Swift) |
| 4:27 |
8. | "Grease in Your Hair" |
| 3:57 |
9. | "Ice Machines" |
| 4:16 |
10. | "Your Mind Is Not Your Friend" (featuring Bridgers) |
| 4:24 |
11. | "Send for Me" |
| 4:14 |
Total length: | 47:34 |
The National – performance
Featured vocalists
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Artwork
| London Contemporary Orchestra
|
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). During live performances, the band is joined by longtime touring members, Ben Lanz and Kyle Resnick. Carin Besser, the wife of Berninger, is not a band member but has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband since its 2007 album Boxer.
Laugh Track is the tenth studio album from American indie rock band the National. The surprise album was released on September 18, 2023, having been announced only days prior. The album's material was mostly written and recorded alongside the band's earlier 2023 album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, with several songs being re-recorded at producer Tucker Martine's studio after honing their arrangements while on tour in 2023. Preceded by the singles, "Weird Goodbyes", "Alphabet City" and "Space Invader", the album features guest vocal appearances from Justin Vernon, Phoebe Bridgers and Rosanne Cash. Laugh Track has received positive reviews from critics.
Boxer is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band the National, released on May 22, 2007, on Beggars Banquet Records. Following its release, the album debuted at number 68 on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling about 9,500 copies in its first week.
Aaron Brooking Dessner is an American musician. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band The National, with whom he has recorded nine studio albums; a co-founder of the indie rock duo Big Red Machine, teaming with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon; and a collaborator on Taylor Swift's critically acclaimed studio albums Folklore and Evermore, both of which contended for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2021 and 2022, respectively, with the former winning the accolade; as well as The Tortured Poets Department (2024).
Matthew Donald Berninger is an American singer, primarily known as the frontman and lyricist of indie rock band The National. In 2014, he also formed the EL VY project with Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls and Menomena. They released the album Return to the Moon in November 2015. In May 2020, Berninger issued the title track from his solo debut album, Serpentine Prison, released in October 2020.
High Violet is the fifth studio album by The National, which was released on May 10, 2010, in Europe and on May 11, 2010, in North America via 4AD. The band produced the album themselves, assisted by Peter Katis with whom they worked on their previous albums Alligator and Boxer at their own studio in Brooklyn, New York, and at Katis' Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The sculpture on the album cover was created by artist Mark Fox, and is called The Binding Force.
American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has released thirteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three soundtracks, two mixtapes, thirteen extended plays (EP), twenty singles, eight promotional singles, and eight music videos. Through his record label Asthmatic Kitty Records, Stevens released his first two albums A Sun Came and Enjoy Your Rabbit in 2000 and 2001, respectively. For his next two releases – Michigan (2003) and Seven Swans (2004) – the singer partnered with Sounds Familyre Records for the distribution of both releases. Seven Swans was supported by Stevens' debut single "The Dress Looks Nice on You". The same album was reissued in 2009 and included the new single "I Went Dancing with My Sister". His fifth album, Illinois, was his first release to enter record charts, where it reached the lower positions in several countries and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 500,000 copies. The Avalanche, a compilation album consisting of outtakes from Illinois, was released in 2006 and also reached various charts internationally.
The discography of American indie rock band the National consists of ten studio albums, two extended plays (EPs), thirteen singles and nine music videos. The band's first two albums, were released by Brassland Records. Their next two albums were released by Beggars Banquet Records, and their subsequent albums were released by 4AD.
Trouble Will Find Me is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band the National, released on May 17, 2013, on 4AD.
Carrie & Lowell is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released on March 31, 2015, by Asthmatic Kitty. It was produced by Stevens, and features guest contributions from Thomas Bartlett, Sean Carey, Casey Foubert, Ben Lester, Nedelle Torrisi, and Laura Veirs.
Planetarium is a collaborative album featuring Bryce Dessner of the indie rock band The National, drummer James McAlister, contemporary classical music composer and arranger Nico Muhly, and singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. The album was released by 4AD on June 9, 2017. The group announced the recording on March 26, sharing the album's track listing along with the song "Saturn".
Big Red Machine is an American indie folk band that began as a collaboration between musicians Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon. The band is named after the nickname for the dominant 1970s Cincinnati Reds baseball team, which won the 1976 World Series in Dessner's birth year.
I Am Easy to Find is the eighth studio album by American indie rock band The National, released on May 17, 2019, via 4AD. The follow-up to the band's 2017 album, Sleep Well Beast, it was supported by the lead single, "You Had Your Soul with You", and accompanied by a short film of the same name, directed by Mike Mills and starring Alicia Vikander. Vikander is also featured on the album cover. A trailer was released for the companion film along with the announcement of the album. A tour promoting the album began in June 2019.
Folklore is the eighth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was surprise-released on July 24, 2020, via Republic Records. Swift recorded her vocals in her Los Angeles home studio and worked virtually with the producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, who operated from their studios in the Hudson Valley and New York City.
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions is a 2020 American documentary concert film directed and produced by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on Disney+ on November 25, 2020. The documentary is set at Long Pond Studio, an isolated recording studio in a forested area in the Hudson Valley, New York; Swift performs all of the 17 tracks of her eighth studio album, Folklore (2020), whilst discussing the creative process behind the songs with her collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff. Swift made her debut as a film director with the documentary, which is her fourth film to be released on a streaming service, following the releases of The 1989 World Tour Live (2015), Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour (2018), and Miss Americana (2020).
Evermore is the ninth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was a surprise album released on December 11, 2020, via Republic Records, less than five months after her previous studio album Folklore. Evermore was a spontaneous product of Swift's extended collaboration with her Folklore collaborator Aaron Dessner, mainly recorded at his Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley.
"Coney Island" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring the American band the National. Swift, Joe Alwyn, and the brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner wrote the song for Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). The track was produced by the Dessner brothers, and Matt Berninger contributed guest vocals. An alternative rock and indie folk track, "Coney Island" has lyrics depicting a separated couple's memories in Coney Island. Swift and Berninger respectively sings about their character's perspective reflecting on their past relationship.
Red (Taylor's Version) is the second re-recorded album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on November 12, 2021, by Republic Records. A re-recording of Swift's fourth studio album, Red (2012), it is part of her re-recording projects following the 2019 dispute over the ownership of her back catalog.
"Nothing New" is a song by the American singer-songwriters Taylor Swift featuring Phoebe Bridgers. Swift wrote the song in March 2012 and produced it with Aaron Dessner for her second re-recorded studio album, Red , which was released in 2021 through Republic Records. The track is a guitar-led folk and alternative rock tune about anxieties over romance and growing up.
Javelin is the tenth studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens, released on October 6, 2023, through Asthmatic Kitty. Preceded by the singles "So You Are Tired", "Will Anybody Ever Love Me?", and "A Running Start", the album received widespread critical acclaim on release.
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