The National review, Royal Festival Hall, London: Their empire expands into new territory

Nobody expected a new National album so soon, least of all The National. Off the back of their first UK number one, Sleep Well Beast, they had toured all over the world for more than a year. The band’s five core members and assorted accomplices would have been excused a holiday. Enter the film director Mike Mills, best known for 20th Century Women. A longtime fan, he emailed Matt Berninger, the lead singer, and asked if he might be allowed to direct a music video. The band suggested something more ambitious. They sent him a load of ideas and sketches for songs and invited him to make a half-hour film and, in effect, produce a new record.

The resulting pieces are both called “I Am Easy To Find”, and are designed to be seen as companions. In advance of the album being released in May, the band are performing a few “special evenings” with a screening, Q&A and live performance. They played in Paris as Notre Dame burned on Monday and now bring the show to the Royal Festival Hall before a few dates in North America. Tickets sold out in minutes and were being resold online for hundreds of pounds, perhaps a reflection of the Waitrose Nirvana’s prosperous demographic. The film tells the story of the whole life of a woman, played at every stage by Alicia Vikander, soundtracked by fragments and arrangements of songs from the new album. It is a curious little piece but Vikander is never less than watchable. Berninger and Mills emerge afterwards, with multi-instrumentalist Aaron Dessner, to be lightly probed by Edith Bowman. “What do you want people to take away from the film?” she asks.

“T-shirts,” Berninger deadpans.

The band members talk about how liberating it was to have someone else’s input. The impression I get is that over 20 years the band have understandably accumulated various tensions and disagreements. Some of these are literal sibling rivalries: Dessner’s twin brother, Bryce, is the other multi-instrumentalist, while Bryan and Scott Devendorf comprise the rhythm section. Mills helped everyone get along.

There’s a short interval before the band return to play through the new record. It is quite a production, with string and brass sections, a second drummer and two, sometimes three, extra singers. Sonically, the big difference on I Am Easy to Find is that Berninger shares singing duties with several female vocalists, including Gail Ann Dorsey, sometime Bowie collaborator, and Sharon Van Etten (although neither is on stage tonight). Present for several songs is Eve Owen (daughter of Clive, the actor, by the by), whose wonderful voice could grace the Festival Hall for more complex work than this. For most in the crowd, it is the first time they have heard the new songs. Although Berninger’s wife, Carin, has shared writing duties with him for years, the band’s work to date has coalesced around his voice and a specific persona, that of an anxious, self-critical middle-class American husband. The new mix of voices makes it easier to read more generally into the lyrics. Some of the new songs, like "Quiet Light" and "Oblivions", are instantly wonderful. Others will take more bedding in.

While the women more than match Berninger for singing ability, they can’t yet match with his stagemanship, honed over two decades. Even when he tries to withdraw to the shadows, he is still magnetic. The seated crowd is appreciative but calm until "Rylan", a live favourite for years that has finally found a home on this album. For the encore the band comes back and play "Not in Kansas", a long ruminative new song, like Leonard Cohen singing REM (who are referenced in the lyrics) with Moldy Peaches chords, which may never bed in. Then a few rapturous bangers get everyone on their feet: "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness", the obligatory "Fake Empire". Owen returns for "I Need My Girl", to prove that new voices can give thrilling life to even the hoariest old singalongs.