New York indie royalty the National are known for their relatively dark, moody sounds, but anyone who has wondered what frontman Matt Berninger would sound like fronting a more upbeat, glossy pop band in is for a treat. Today, Berninger revealed music from EL VY, his new project with Menomena’s Brent Knopf, and you can hear the pretty sweet first song, “Return To The Moon (Political Song For Didi Bloome To Sing, With Crescendo),” down below.
Word on the street is that the moniker EL VY is pronounced like a plural Elvis, and rhymes with “hell pie.”
The single, which has a nice NYC-in-the-summertime post-disco vibe to it, is the first track of debut album Return To The Moon, due later this year via 4AD. EL VY doesn’t seem like a quick one-off either, as the duo has also unveiled a North American and European fall tour stops by the Sinclair in Cambridge on November 15.
The two shed some light on the project in a statement.
“This record is more autobiographical than anything else I’ve written, but the details aren’t true,” says Berninger. “It’s written in the voices of a few invented characters, composites of different people — myself, my wife, and other people I was thinking about.”
Adds Knopf: “I never worried about sending Matt something unfinished. He’s able to imagine where it can go. He can grab the four bars that will become the core of the track and develop them into something amazing.”
They’re off to a good start.
EL VY ON EL TOUR
Mon 02 Nov 2015 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR, US
Tue 03 Nov 2015 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR, US
Wed 04 Nov 2015 Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room Seattle, WA, US
Fri 06 Nov 2015 The Independent San Francisco, CA, US
Sat 07 Nov 2015 Troubadour West Hollywood, CA, US
Tue 10 Nov 2015 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA, US
Wed 11 Nov 2015 9:30 Club Washington, DC, US
Fri 13 Nov 2015 The Bowery Ballroom New York, NY, US
Sat 14 Nov 2015 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY, US
Sun 15 Nov 2015 The Sinclair Cambridge, MA, US
Mon 16 Nov 2015 Théâtre Fairmount Montreal, QC, Canada
Tue 17 Nov 2015 The Opera House Toronto, ON, Canada
Thu 19 Nov 2015 Metro Chicago, IL, US
Fri 20 Nov 2015 Turner Hall Ballroom Milwaukee, WI, US
Sat 21 Nov 2015 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN, US
Tue 01 Dec 2015 Pumpehuset Copenhagen, Denmark
Wed 02 Dec 2015 Grünspan Hamburg, Germany
Thu 03 Dec 2015 Melkweg Amsterdam, Netherlands
Fri 04 Dec 2015 Die Kantine Cologne, Germany
Sun 06 Dec 2015 Astra Kulturhaus Berlin, Germany
Mon 07 Dec 2015 Ancienne Belgique (AB) Brussels, Belgium
Tue 08 Dec 2015 Le Trabendo Paris, France
Thu 10 Dec 2015 Electric Ballroom London, UK
Sat 12 Dec 2015 Manchester Gorilla Manchester, UK
Sun 13 Dec 2015 Whelan’s Dublin, Ireland