The National (band)

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The National
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, USA
Years active	1999 – Present
Genres	Indie Rock
Labels	Brassland Records, Beggars Banquet Records

The National is an indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, founded in 1999 by friends (including two pairs of brothers) from Cincinnati, Ohio. Their first self-titled album was released in 2001 on Brassland, a label founded by two of those brothers, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and their friend, writer Alec Hanley Bemis. They had played few shows before the album came out.

Influences range from Tom Waits to U2. The band's morose, self-deprecating lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger in a distinctive, deep baritone. The band is rounded out by Scott & Bryan Devendorf. Padma Newsome, from sister band, Clogs, often contributes strings, keyboards, and other arrangements and instrumental flourishes.

The band's early gimmick was that the members had all given up good jobs to work on the project, however, this seems to have been dropped.

Their latest album, Alligator, was #2 in Planet Sound's Top 50 albums of 2005, losing out to Bright Eyes, but beating the likes of The Magic Numbers, The Wrens, Elbow, Rilo Kiley, Malcolm Middleton, The Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket and HARD-Fi. It also charted high in "Album of the Year" charts in the LA Times, Insound, Uncut, and many other publications. One of their most well-known songs is "Mr. November."

On their last tour the band played a handful of new songs. Their next album is set for a spring 2007 release date.