Last week, The National debuted several new songs from their upcoming album, Sleep Well Beast, during a concert in Paris. The concert included a performance of Guilty Party, which the Brooklyn based indie-rockers have now released as a second single from the record, alongside an accompanying music video which can be viewed below:

In an official statement, director Casey Reas provided insight into the conceptual nature of the psychedelic and distant music video which he described as:

“A dream about memory and the degradation of memory. It’s about distance in time and space. Time moves forward, but then backward as memory. The image of the two-faced Roman god Janus, who can look into the past and future, is the core visual language.”

In celebration of their new album, The National will be hosting a live-music event in New York on July 14th and 15th. The collaborative concert will be performed in the round and will feature various collaborative performances with the likes of Buke & Gase and Nadia Sirota. 700 tickets will be made available for each night, with a percentage of sales benefiting the venue of the event. Each guest will receive a limited edition Guilty Party 7-inch double split. Tickets can be purchased here.

The LP, due for release on September 8th, consists of 12 tracks and was produced in New York by Aaron Dessner with co-production from band-mates Bryce Dessner and Matt Berninger. Initial single releases for the project, including the political anthem The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness, have been met with critical acclaim with NPR stating that “Sleep Well Beast, is shaping up to be the best album the band has done”. The album will mark the band’s first full-release in four years with an accompanying European and North American tour scheduled to begin in September. Full European dates for the tour can be viewed below:

08/12 – Copenhagen, DK @ HAVEN Festival

09/16 – Cork, IE @ Cork Opera House/Sounds From a Safe Harbour

09/17 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street

09/18 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street

09/20 – Edinburgh, UK @ Usher Hall

09/21 – Edinburgh, UK @ Usher Hall

09/22 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo

09/23 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo

09/25 – London, UK @ Eventim Hammersmith Apollo

09/26 – London, UK @ Eventim Hammersmith Apollo

09/27 – London, UK @ Eventim Hammersmith Apollo

09/28 – London, UK @ Eventim Hammersmith Apollo

10/14 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre

10/21 – Hamburg, DE @ Elphilharmonie

10/23 – Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom

10/24 – Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom

10/25 – Amsterdam, NL @ AFAS Live

10/28 – Lisbon, PT @ Coliseum

10/30 – Brussels, BE @ Bozar

10/31 – Brussels, BE @ Bozar

11/02 – Paris, FR @ Pitchfork Music Festival Paris

11/04 – Stockholm, SE @ Annexet

11/05 – Stockholm, SE @ Annexet

11/06 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene

11/07 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene

Pre-orders of the album, including a limited indie exclusive 2xLP blue vinyl, can be pre-ordered from 4AD here.