Sleep Well Beast
by The National
- Type: Album
- Released: 8 September 2017
- Label: 4AD
- Country: United States
- Length: 57:40
- Community rating: 3.8/5 from 27 ratings
Artists on this release: Matt Berninger, Bryce Dessner, Bryan Devendorf, Aaron Dessner, Scott Devendorf
Album Notes & Community Reviews
On 'Sleep Well Beast', the band integrates layers of dark electronics, synthesizers, and drum loops into their musical framework, marking a significant sonic departure that remains anchored by Matt Berninger's understated baritone. Co-written by the frontman and his wife, Carin Besser, the lyrics offer a confessional exploration of marital struggles and domestic anxieties set against a backdrop of pervasive political dread, a fusion of textured experimentation and raw intimacy that earned the album a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
Genres
Descriptors: piano, orchestral, confessional, political, electronic
Tracklist
- Nobody Else Will Be There (04:40)
- Day I Die (04:31)
- Walk It Back (05:59)
- The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness (03:56)
- Born to Beg (04:22)
- Turtleneck (03:00)
- Empire Line (05:23)
- I'll Still Destroy You (05:15)
- Guilty Party (05:38)
- Carin at the Liquor Store (03:33)
- Dark Side of the Gym (04:50)
- Sleep Well Beast (06:33)
Credits
- Matt Berninger - vocals, lyrics, melodies, arrangement, performance, co-production
- Aaron Dessner - guitar, piano, keyboards, bass, drum machine, production, arrangement, performance, drum programming, additional recording
- Bryce Dessner - guitar, piano, orchestration, co-production, arrangement, performance, drum programming
- Scott Devendorf - bass, guitar, arrangement, performance
- Bryan Devendorf - drums, drum programming, arrangement, performance
- The National - arranged by, performed by
- Carin Besser - lyrics, melodies
- Maaike van der Linde - bass flute, flute
- James McAlister - drum programming
- Eric Cha-Beach - drums, percussion
- Jason Treuting - drums, percussion
- Peter Katis - additional production, mixing
- Jonathan Low - recording, additional mixing
- David Chalmin - recording (paris orchestral sessions), effects (drum processing)
- Sean O'Brien - recording (los angeles vocal sessions)
- Jan St. Werner - additional recording
- Andi Toma - additional recording
- Greg Calbi - mastering
- Steve Fallone - co-mastering
- Ron Suskind - excerpt from "faith, certainty and the presidency of george w. bush"
- Graham MacIndoe - photography
- Andrea Trabucco-Campos - art direction, design
- Elaynna Blaser-Gould - art direction, design
- Luke Hayman - art direction, design
- Casey Reas - video direction