Album review: Laugh Track, by The National, is the band's second offering of 2023

Laugh Track is billed by The National as a companion piece to First Two Pages of Frankenstein. It works just as well as a standalone 

The National have released new album, Laugh Track. 

The National, Laugh Track, ★★★★☆

 Back in the 1970s, it wasn’t unusual for artists to release two albums in the same calendar year (Bowie put out three classics over the space of 18 months). The trend is returning, with Ed Sheeran recently announcing his second LP of 2023. Beating him to the punch, however, are indie rock’s self-declared “Sad Dads”, the National whose 10th long-player, Laugh Track, lands just six months after First Two Pages of Frankenstein.

The group have described Laugh Track as a companion piece to Frankenstein. They would know: but it is perhaps more accurate to say it is a refinement of the themes and textures of its predecessor. Frankenstein chronicled the group’s struggles with the mid-life despond that threatened their ongoing existence – a funk rooted in singer Matt Berninger’s depression and writer’s block. 

Given that background, it was no surprise Frankenstein took its time lumbering to life. It was tightly sealed and stately, a document of brute-force introversion that demanded a lot of the listener but which rewarded those who gave their time.

Laugh Track is the morning after the long night of that previous album. It’s less buttoned down: melodies and choruses feel looser, more off the cuff. It achieves an early apotheosis on 'Deep End (Paul’s In Pieces)'. Here is a twitchy piece that harks back to National “classics” such as 'Mistaken for Strangers', even as it drills into Berlinger’s ongoing angst (“I’m going off the deep end/barely sleeping").

The National, Laugh Track.

The oppression lifts with the title track. A duet with Phoebe Bridgers, it draws out the contrast between her vulnerable voice and Berlinger’s crestfallen growl. Later, the record explodes into a satisfying catharsis on fiery seven-minute closer, 'Smoke Detector'.

Ahead of the release of Frankenstein, The Nationals’ guitarist Bryce Dessner pitched the LP as a new beginning for the band. They’d rallied around Berninger – who felt he had no more songs in him– and reconnected with the solidarity that had driven the group in their early years. 

That same spirit of comradeship fuels Laugh Track. The difference is that The National have now rediscovered their ability to bang out a belting tune.