The National and Bon Iver share new single ‘Weird Goodbyes’
The National have released their new single ‘Weird Goodbyes’ featuring Bon Iver. The band have been airing the new track at live concerts for some time, having played it for the first time in Pamplona, Spain, in May. The two artists finally confirmed the collaboration last week.
Opening up about ‘Weird Goodbyes’ in a recent statement, Matt Berninger said: “It’s about letting go of the past and moving on, then later being overwhelmed by second thoughts.”
There’s been a hubbub around the new single ever since promotional posters featuring The National and Bon Iver started cropping up in places such as Brooklyn, New York. Now, the two artists have unveiled ‘Weird Goodbyes’ for real, and it seems like it’s part of a bigger project.
Discussing the making of the single, Aaron Dessner recalled: “‘Weird Goodbyes’ was one of the first new songs we made. I was misusing drum machines, as usual, and stumbled onto this beat that got stuck in my head – it felt like something only Bryan could naturally play. We built the song around the beat.”
He added: “Matt’s melody and words felt so elegant and moving from the beginning – mourning a loss of innocence and motivation, holding onto memories and feelings that inevitably slip away and the grief we all suffer in weird goodbyes.” You can check out the official lyric video below.
Dessner went on to explain how the Bon Iver/TheNational collaboration came to be: “I somehow could hear our friend Justin’s voice and heart in this song from the beginning,” he said. “We sent it to him and it moved him – he then sang with Matt so powerfully.”
The National are set to play All Points East Festival in London’s Victoria Park this coming weekend before heading up North to Manchester’s Depot Mayfield and the Connect Festival in Edinburgh.
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