Track Review: Tropic Morning News // The National

The year 2019 saw the last The National album to date, I Am Easy to Find. After that, between the pandemic and back-to-back touring, lead singer Matt Beringer found himself stuck in “a very dark spot where I couldn’t come up with lyrics or melodies at all”, as he explains. ‘Tropic Morning News’ was released alongside the announcement for the band’s ninth album First Two Pages of Frankenstein out on 28 April, featuring artists like Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers, and a world tour happening in September.

“Even though we’d always been anxious whenever we were working on a record, this was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end,” the tormented frontman said. 

However, it was during one of these moments of need and darkness, that The National “managed to come back together and approach everything from a different angle, and because of that we arrived at what feels like a new era for the band,” guitarist and pianist Bryce Dessner states. 

This is when the brand new single ‘Tropic Morning News’ was born. From uncertainty and hopelessness, one of the most iconic bands of the past two decades was able to create new beauty and light. 

This single is packed with nostalgia and a desperate attempt to grasp the past. With the current events all around the world, Beringer’s wife Carin Besser invented the phrase in the title, tropic morning news, which refers to the dull and isolating routine of doomscrolling. This means getting lost in one’s phone scrolling through all the dystopian news that happens every day.

Beringer confessed: “The idea of referring to the darkness of the news in such a light way unlocked something in me. It became a song about having a hard time expressing yourself, and trying to connect with someone when the noise of the world is drowning out any potential for conversation.” 

The signature The National-esque guitar riffs constellating the background of the frontman’s warm yet distraught voice give a hint of hope. Perhaps it is because Beringer’s other half Besser co-wrote it, or perhaps it is because The National found their long lost sound and personality again, but ‘Tropic Morning News’ signifies a new chapter in indie music and in the band’s career. 

The sheer honesty, the painstaking lyrics and the somewhat lighthearted melody, are all familiar traits for the American band, but somehow, today, they feel oh so new. 

Words by Silvia Pellegrino

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