The National have released the official video for “Laugh Track“ feat. Phoebe Bridgers, the title track off their surprise new album. The video was directed and animated by Bernard Derriman, director of The Bob’s Burgers Movie, with 3D animation by Adam Phillips. The wry, simmering track was born of a drum idea from Justin Vernon (“the tempo felt like something off Dylan’s Nashville Skyline,” says the band’s Aaron Dessner) and what feels like a classic Matt Berninger-ian lyrical turn. “Turn on the laugh track / We’ll see if it changes the scene,” he sings, a last-ditch attempt at salvation as he and his dance partner sway amid the fast wreckage of what was once assured. “Maybe this is just the funniest version of us that we’ve ever seen.” 

It’s The National’s third collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers this year. “Her voice is the soft edge of the song,” says Berninger. “It takes some of the snarky, sarcastic bitterness out of it and makes it sweet and gentle.”

“Her voice is the soft edge of the song… It takes some of the snarky, sarcastic bitterness out of it and makes it sweet and gentle.”

Says singer Matt Berninger.

The group stunned fans in September with the surprise digital release of Laugh Track which is also now available on vinyl. The 12-song record is a companion to, and features material originally started in the same sessions as First Two Pages of Frankenstein, which was released by 4AD in April. Laugh Track features guest appearances by Phoebe Bridgers and Rosanne Cash, as well as the Bon Iver collaboration “Weird Goodbyes,” which was released as a standalone track in August 2022.