NPR

Watch The National's New Video For 'Hairpin Turns', Directed By Mike Mills

Mike Mills directs the black-and-white video with a minimal, intimate austerity.
A still from The National's "Hairpin Turns" video.

In preparation of 's upcoming album, — due out May 17 on 4AD — the band has issued another single, titled "Hairpin Turns."Like every National single, it. "What is it you want me to be learning? We're always arguing about the same things," sighs Matt Berninger, contrite and tired. A looping electric guitar riff cycles through, a non-verbal signifier of the ceaseless back-and-forth. Then, a line so specific that it elevates "Hairpin Turns" into a great National single: "Days of brutalism and hairpin turns," a vivid descriptor that feels all too cutting. "The video is a very simple portrait of the band (and the friends who helped make the song) and the song itself: You see all the instruments that make up the song in isolation, even hear them recorded live on set over the album version, kind of like showing you the tracks that make up the song," writes Mills in a press release.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR2 min read
As Theaters Scramble To Reach New Audiences, Three Get $1 Million Each
The Mellon Foundation announced grants of $1 million to three theaters: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf in New Haven and Portland Center Stage.
NPR2 min read
A Bus Plunges Off A Bridge In South Africa, Killing 45 People
An 8-year-old child is only survivor. The passengers were headed to an Easter festival before the bus plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames.
NPR9 min readWorld
Fractures In The Grand Alliance Between Black And Jewish Americans
The Grand Alliance between Black and Jewish leaders, known largely for shared work on Civil Rights in the 1960s, has a complicated legacy--and an uncertain future between these communities.

Related Books & Audiobooks