4AD recording artists The National, have announced, their new release I Am Easy To Find  will arrive on May 17th along with the announcement, the bad has shared the lead-single “You Had Your Soul With You,” which features the vocals of long-time David Bowie collaborator Gail Ann Dorsey.

A companion short film with the same name will also be released with music by The National and inspired by the album. The film was directed by Academy Award-nominated director Mike Mills (20th Centur Women, Beginners), and starring Academy Award Winner Alicia Vikander. Mills, along with the band, is credited as co-producer of the album, which was mostly recorded at Long Pond, Hudson Valley, NY with additional sessions in Paris, Berlin, Cincinnati, Austin, Dublin, Brooklyn and more far flung locations. The album features vocal contributions from Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle and more.

On September 3, 2017, director Mike Mills emailed Matt Berninger to introduce himself and in very short order, the most ambitious project of the National’s nearly 20-year career was born and plans for a hard-earned vacation died. The Los Angeles-based filmmaker was coming off his third feature, 20th Century Women, and was interested in working with the band on…something. A video maybe. Berninger, already a fan of Mills’ films, not only agreed to collaborate, he essentially handed over the keys to the band’s creative process. The result is I Am Easy to Find, a 24-minute film by Mills starring Alicia Vikander, and I Am Easy to Find, a 68-minute album by the National. The former is not the video for the latter; the latter is not the soundtrack to the former. The two projects are, as Mills calls them, “Playfully hostile siblings that love to steal from each other”—they share music and words and DNA and impulses and a vision about what it means to be human in 2019, but don’t necessarily need one another. The movie was composed like a piece of music; the music was assembled like a film, by a film director. The frontman and natural focal point was deliberately and dramatically sidestaged in favour of a variety of female voices, nearly all of whom have long been in the group’s orbit. It is unlike anything either artist has ever attempted and also totally in line with how they’ve created for much of their careers.

“Yes, there are a lot of women singing on this, but it wasn’t because, ‘Oh, let’s have more women’s voices,’ says Berninger. “It was more, ‘Let’s have more of a fabric of people’s identities.’ It would have been better to have had other male singers, but my ego wouldn’t let that happen.”

The National
I Am Easy To Find
Tracklisting

1. You Had Your Soul With You
2. Quiet Light
3. Roman Holiday
4. Oblivions
5. The Pull Of You
6. Hey Rosey
7. I Am Easy To Find
8. Her Father In The Pool
9. Where Is Her Head
10. Not In Kansas
11. So Far So Fast
12. Dust Swirls In Strange Light
13. Hairpin Turns
14. Rylan
15. Underwater
16. Light Years

The National
Live Dates

4/16 – Paris, FR @ Olympia
4/18 – London, UK @ Royal Festival Hall
4/22 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
4/24 – Toronto, ON @ Roy Thomson Hall
4/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
6/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Mann Center*
6/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Prospect Park*
6/15 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
6/16 – Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy*
6/17 – St Augustine, FL @ St Augustine Amphitheatre*
6/19 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem*
6/20 – Portland, ME @ Thompson’s Point*
6/21 – Montreal, QC @ Place des Arts
6/22 – Hamilton, ON @ Pier 8**
6/24 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live*
6/25 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Hill Auditorium*
6/26 – Indianapolis, IN @ Lawn at White River*
6/28 – Chicago, IL @ Northerly Island**
7/10 – Manchester, UK @ Castlefield Bowl
7/12 – Madrid, ES @ Mad Cool Festival
7/13 – London, UK @ Hyde Park
7/15 – Frankfurt, DE @ Jahrhunderthalle
7/16 – Hamburg, DE @ Stadtpark
7/18 – Rättvik, SE @ Dalhalla
8/4 – Waterford, IE @ All Together Now
8/6 – Glasgow, UK @ Summer Nights at the Bandstand
8/7 – Glasgow, UK @ Summer Nights at the Bandstand
8/9 – Sicily, IT @ Ypsigrock
8/10 – Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival
8/11 – Buftea, RO @ Summer Well
8/14 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura
8/16 – Hasselt, BE @ Pukkelpop
8/16 — 8/18 –  Biddinghuizen, NL @ Lowlands
8/18 – Hasselt, BE @ Pukkelpop
8/28 – Vancouver, BC @ Deer Lake Park**
8/29 – Seattle, WA @ Marymoor Park**
8/30 – Portland, OR @ Edgefield**
9/1 – Stanford, CA @ Frost Amphitheater**
9/2 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre**
9/3 – Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theatre**
9/5 – Odgen, UT @ Ogden Ampitheater**
9/8 – Santa Fe, NM @ Santa Fe Opera House**
9/10 – Austin, TX @ 360 Amphitheatre**
9/11 –  Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall**
11/25 – Warsaw, PL @ Torwar Hall
11/26 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
11/27 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
11/29 – Copenhagen, DK @ Royal Arena
12/1 – Bochum, DE @ Ruhrcongress
12/2 – Cologne, DE @ Palladium
12/3 – Zurich, SW @ Samsung Hall
12/4 – Munich, DE @ Zenith
12/5 – Stuttgart, DE @ Porsche Arena
*w/ Courtney Barnett
**w/ Alvvays