After announcing it to fans last Friday during a performance at Cincinnati’s Homecoming Festival, The National have surprisingly released their second album from 2023, Laugh Track, available now digitally and in physical format as of Nov. 17. Through its 12 songs, Laugh Track, features new material born during the sessions of the companion First Two Pages of Frankenstein, released by 4AD in April. The band has also confirmed additional U.S. tour dates in the fall, as well as Australia dates planned for next spring with support from longtime friends Fleet Foxes.

Laugh Track is the freest and most collaborative album in years. If Frankenstein represented the rebuilding of trust between the band members after more than 20 years together, the dynamic and exploratory Laugh Track is both a product of that trust and a new statement of purpose.

The National radically disrupted the creative process and honed most of the new material during concerts held this year, capturing reinvigorated versions in improvised sessions at producer Tucker Martine’s Flora Recording & Playback, Portland studio. The nearly eight-minute closing track “Smoke Detector” was recorded in June in Vancouver during a soundcheck, rounding out an album full of spontaneity and true vintage rock energy that is a perfect complement to the songs of its more introspective predecessor. Enjoy ‘Space Invaders’!