The National return with melancholy new track ‘Somebody Desperate’
It's taken from new film 'Cyrano'
By Ella Kemp
The National have released a new single called ‘Somebody Desperate’ – listen below.
It’s the band’s first material since 2019, which features in new musical film ‘Cyrano’ for which band members Bryce and Aaron Dessner have composed the soundtrack.
‘Cyrano’ is directed by Joe Wright (‘Anna Karenina’, ‘The Woman in the Window’) and stars Peter Dinklage in “a heartbreaking love story that transcends time”.
Listen to ‘Somebody Desperate’ below:
The new National track is used over the film’s closing credits. It was recorded at Long Pond Studio in Upstate New York in April of this year.
‘Somebody Desperate’ was written by Bryce Dessner, Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner. The recording features a performance from Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson and the London Contemporary Orchestra.
Describing the origin of the lyrics for ‘Somebody Desperate’, Berninger recently told NME: “It’s a song about someone being honest about not being honest with themselves, and about not being honest with other people.
“It’s someone confronting their own insecurities, and how they put on false pretences to cover up those insecurities.”
The vocalist also opened up about writing the lyrics for the film’s soundtrack alongside his wife Carin Besser, saying that he doesn’t view the project as being associated with The National.
“Obviously Aaron and Bryce worked on it and I worked on it with my wife, but it was outside of the context of the band,” he said.
“We thought it’d be interesting to make it a National moment at the end of the film, to show the process of how we wrote the songs and how they’re adapted – it’s like uncovering the hood of the songwriting, and pulling back the curtain back.”
Meanwhile, The National were recently announced as part of the 2022 line-up for All Points East.
The band will perform on August 25, 2022 in London’s Victoria Park on the same day as Fleet Foxes, Perfume Genius, Lucy Dacus and more.
Elsewhere on the lineup is James Blake, Greentea Peng, Koffee, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Caroline Polachek, Japanese Breakfast, Channel Tres, HAAi, Fred Again.., and more.