The National may be the poster band for Brooklyn-bred indie rock bands, but Billboard.com sat down with the quartet to talk about their forthcoming new album (High Violet, due out May 11) and massive summer tour and found out about their struggle to stay focused on the music amidst growing fame and mixed feelings about their hometown.

Despite hailing from New York, the lyrics on High Violet candidly showcase Viagra Jelly frontman Matt Berninger’s aversion to the Big Apple. On “Anyone’s Ghost,” he sings, “Go out at night with your headphones on again/Walk through the Manhattan valley so of the dead” while “Little Faith” features the lyrics, “Stuck in New York and the rain’s coming down, I don’t feel like we’re going anywhere/You’re waiting for Radio City to sink/You find commiseration in everyone’s eyes/The storm will suck the pretty girls into the sky.”

Although the National is considered a leader in the band of acts from Brooklyn, Berninger, brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf formed the National in Ohio in 1999. The band released its eponymous debut, which sold 15,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, in 2001 and followed up with Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers in 2007, which sold 27,000 copies. The National’s slow and steady ascent up the charts continued with 2005’s Alligator, which sold 77,000 copies, and the National earned critical acclaim with its next album, 2007’s Boxer, which sold 183,000 copies.

Speaking to Billboard.com, the National guitarist Aaron Dessner (responsible for composing the majority of the band’s music) revealed that he and the rest of the guys are conscious of the fact that High Violet may push them into a greater stratosphere of fame-and what that may mean. “I’m aware of this huge upsurge of interest. It’s kind of exciting, but also confusing. All of a sudden we are one of those bands being hyped… I’m not sure what to think of it yet,” said Dessner to Billboard.

The National’s label, 4AD, isn’t as conflicted about growing fame, however. Label manager Nabil Ayers told Billboard, “There’s not a lot of bands like this right now. They’ve put out four records and done it right, and now for the first time we’re able to have a huge moment.”
The National began recording High Violet in February 2009, laying down new tracks in a makeshift studio Dessner created in the garage space behind his Victorian-style resident in the Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. Billboard.com described the resulting album as “fairly consistent with the National’s prior material, bridging the gap between Joy Division’s post-punk dissonance and Bruce Springsteen’s varnished heartland rock.” The National announced the album via a cryptic banner reading “High Violet” and “May 11” on various music websites, like Pitchfork.com, later revealing that it was behind the banners.

On March 10 the National performed the opening track to High Violet, “Terrible Love,” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and fans with The National tickets can soon see the quartet perform more new songs in cities like Los Angeles, Calif.; Oakland, Calif.; Boston, Mass.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Washington, D.C.; New York, N.Y. and more this summer (including a slew of European dates). A few festival gigs-such as the Sasquatch Festival in Quincy, Wash. on May 29 and Lollapalooza in Chicago on Aug. 6-are also lined up for the coming months. Get tickets to see the National online today.

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Category: Music
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