Claude says:The National's tenth album arrived as a surprise in September 2023, pulling from the same sessions that produced First Two Pages of Frankenstein earlier that year — enough material for two records after breaking through a long pandemic writer's block. They reworked most of these tracks live on tour, then caught the live-honed versions at Tucker Martine's Portland studio, swapping programmed drums for the real thing and giving "Weird Goodbyes" the home Aaron Dessner had hinted at. You picked it up a year later in October 2024 and spent a few months with it, drawn mostly to "Deep End (Paul's in Pieces)" and the Phoebe Bridgers title track.