aaamusic | On 20, Mar 2011

“Some of the most exquisitely heart-rending songs you’ll hear all year.” The Guardian

“With High Violet The National’s slow and steady evolution can no longer be ignored.” NME

“A band that has raised itself up to another realm.” Q

The National have announced that they are to headline the main stage at this year’s Latitude Festival on 15th July 2011. This is the band’s third appearance at the festival, having previously headlined The Word Arena in 2010 and played a mid-afternoon slot on the main stage in 2007.

Celebrating the universal acclaim their current album High Violet has received (the album charted at No. 5 in the UK and No. 3 in the US), The National will be playing festival dates throughout Europe this summer, and are about to embark on a US tour. The band also announced a headline show in Los Angeles at The Hollywood Bowl on September 11th. For a full list of upcoming tour dates, please visit www.americanmary.com.

The National recently shot a video for High Violet song ‘Conversation 16‘. Directed by Scott Jacobson, the new video stars actors John Slattery (Mad Men’s Roger Stirling) and James Urbaniak (American Splendor), with Kristin Schaal (Flight of the Conchords) playing the US President. To view the video go to www.highviolet.com

Recently, frontman Matt Berninger was in the studio with production team Silver Alert (James Sciavunos of Grinderman and Peter Mavrogeorgis, recording engineer for High Violet) doing a remix of Grinderman’s ‘Evil’, part of a special Record Store Day release (April 16th).

And last but not least, two new songs by The National have surfaced. ‘Think You Can Wait’ is featured in Tom McCarthy’s new film Win Win which opens in New York and LA this Friday. To hear the track follow this link here. ‘Exile Vilify’ is included in the new video game Portal 2 set for release on April 21st.

UK DATES:

15th July – Latitude Festival (headlining the main stage)

23rd August – The Corn Exchange, Edinburgh