The National are teasing something for this week

The National appear to be gearing up for an announcement this Friday (January 13).

• READ MORE: The National on new music: “It’s the whole history of the band, but with a new exploration”

The band have been sending teasers to members of their Cherry Tree fan community, hinting at something being announced this week.

One Reddit user posted a photo of a cutout face, with a ‘Hello, my name is Paul’ sticker on its head. On the back is this Friday’s date, plus the words “Tranquilize the Mind”.

Another user later shared that they had received the same cutout face, but theirs had the words “Evil Forebodings” written on the back.

Nothing else has been confirmed as of yet but fans are speculating this could be an album announcement or even the surprise release of new music.

Last year saw The National return with the single ‘Weird Goodbyes’, a collaboration with Bon Iver. Speaking about the song, Matt Berninger explained: “It’s about letting go of the past and moving on, then later being overwhelmed by second thoughts.”

As for the process of creating the track, the band’s Aaron Dessner added: “‘Weird Goodbyes’ was one of the first new songs we made. I was misusing drum machines, as usual, and stumbled onto this beat that got stuck in my head – it felt like something only Bryan could naturally play. We built the song around the beat.”

In September, the band shared a remix of Neu!‘s 1972 track ‘Im Glück’. Their new interpretation of the song featured as part of Neu!’s 50th anniversary boxset, which was released on September 23 via British-German label Grönland Records.

During a recent interview with NME, Bryce Dessner talked about what fans can expect from The National’s new material. “It’s starting to become something we’re really excited about,” he said. “It’s hard to say what shape it will take, but there’s a ton there.”

The National released their eighth and most recent studio album, ‘I Am Easy To Find’, back in 2019.

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