The National Feat. Bon Iver – 'Weird Goodbyes'
The National presented a new single track in collaboration with Bon Iver. It's the track titled 'Weird Goodbyes'. The National have been performing various new songs of theirs live during their tour that started in May.
By Dimitris (Bari) Polyzois
The The National they performed several new songs of theirs live during the tour that kicked off in May. A few days ago, one of them was released, via 4AD, as their new single. It's the "Weird Goodbyes”, featuring Bon Iver with whom they collaborate both on stage and in the studio. On top of that, the song also features strings from the London Contemporary Orchestra, arranged by Bryce Dessner.
The song is about "the moment when you've left the past behind"
'You move forward but suddenly second thoughts start flooding in on you' says the band's singer, Matt Berninger. While Aaron Dessner adds: "'Weird Goodbyes' was one of the first songs we'd written. I overdid it on drums, as always, and ended up with a rhythm that got stuck in my head. It sounded like something only Bryan could play. We built the song on top of that rhythm.
Matt's melody and lyrics came across so beautiful and moving right from the start – mourning a loss of innocence and motivation, holding onto the memories and feelings that inevitably get forgotten, and the sadness we all feel in the weird goodbyes we might say." Regarding Bon Iver's involvement in the song, he said: "Somehow I could hear our friend Justin's voice and heart in this song from the beginning. We sent it to him and it moved him. And then he sang it so beautifully together with Matt."
