The National Stay Up Late to Perform ‘Tropic Morning News’ on Fallon

The National took to the late night stage Friday to perform “Tropic Morning News” on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Frontman Matt Berninger led the vocals while backed with bandmates Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Bryan Devendorf, and Scott Devendorf.

In January, the group announced their upcoming album First Two Pages of Frankenstein, sharing “Tropic Morning News” as the project’s lead single. The following month, they released “New Order T-Shirt,” the second pre-release track from their ninth studio album set for release on April 28.

The album is the band’s first since 2019’s I Am Easy to Find, and features special guest appearances from Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens, and Phoebe Bridgers, who appears on two of the 11 songs.

In a statement, Berninger said the new record was born from a “very dark spot where I couldn’t come up with lyrics or melodies at all.” He added, “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.” Eventually, the band “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.”

The National will embark on a 19-date North American tour in May.