New Music: The National – “So Far Around The Bend”

The National
Photo by David Greenwald

The National‘s new song, “So Far Around The Bend,” returns to a number of singer Matt Berninger’s favored subjects: a bowl of cherries, a mysterious woman, New York. The consistency is comforting, as the track finds the band snuggling deeper into the bear rug of Boxer‘s forays into woolly chamber-pop — not a bad path for them, especially on a one-off track, but hopefully one their next full-length livens with another “Lit Up” or “Mr. November” or two. Or seven. Hopefully we’ll find out in 2010.

Until LPV arrives, though, you can pick up “So Far Around The Bend” in the thoroughly great Dark Was The Night compilation, a two-disc collection curated by the National’s Dessner twins (the guitar playing set) and benefiting the Red Hot Organization, a charity dedicated to HIV/AIDS activism. Considering the discs offer excellent new tracks from Grizzly Bear, Iron & Wine (“Stolen Houses [Die],” an unreleased Shepherd’s Dog-era stand-out), Yo La Tengo and interesting enough efforts from Sufjan Stevens, Feist with Ben Gibbard and the rest of the That’s What I Call Indie! 2009 crew, this one’s well worth actually paying for.

The National – “So Far Around The Bend”: mp3

(Dark Was the Night is out now on 4AD)

Below, a live performance prefaced by the Dessner brothers explaining the compilation.

Previously: New Music: The National – “A Thousand Black Cities”

***

Looking for new music? Click below for more recent and upcoming 2009 releases or visit the MP3-filled Album Release Calendar.