Sleep Well Beast is the seventh studio album by the American indie rock band The National, released on September 8, 2017, by 4AD. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2018.

Promotion On May 9, and May 10, 2017, the National's Twitter page tweeted out two short audio teasers, one from the title track and the other from the lead single, "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness".

Singles The first single from the album, "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness", was released on May 11, 2017, alongside the album's announcement. The second single, "Guilty Party", was released on June 28, 2017. A third single, "Carin at the Liquor Store", was released on August 8, 2017, followed by the fourth, "Day I Die". on August 29. The fifth single, "I'll Still Destroy You", was released on October 23, 2017.

Packaging and marketing The artwork for Sleep Well Beast consists of a black and white photograph, shot by Graham MacIndoe, of the side of a barn in Hudson Valley, New York dating back to the 18th century, bought by the guitarist Aaron Dessner and rebuilt as the album's recording studio. MacIndoe also took numerous photographs of the band during recording sessions for the album inserts. Andrea Trabucco-Campos and Elaynna Blaser-Gould, with partner Luke Hayman, of the British design firm Pentagram, were the art directors for the album's packaging.

Unusually, Pentagram also created the branding and identity for Sleep Well Beast and the band, including a corporate standards manual. Additionally, they created the marketing campaign to highlight and play on the album's themes of politics, society and propaganda as "a bit of a joke". The album and branding use the Grotesque-based font Maison with a predominantly blue and white-based color palette. From the cover, the barn was condensed into a pentagon used as the branding's logo, subdivided into two squares and triangles implemented within the design and branding, even in the artwork itself, as an allusion to corporate branding.

The marketing campaign was executed in several ways. The band's label, 4AD, partnered with the design company Diabolical to create a mural for the album in Shoreditch, London, containing a lyric from "Day I Die". Four music videos – "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness", "Guilty Party", "Carin at the Liquor Store" and "Day I Die" – were directed by Casey Reas prior to the album's release, included in video billboard advertisements released in Times Square, London and Copenhagen. Band merchandise included the branding for the album, specifically the pentagon logo.

Elyanna Blaser-Gould, Luke Hayman and Andrew Trabucco-Campos were nominated for Best Recording Package at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.

Reception

Sleep Well Beast received widespread acclaim from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns an average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream music critics, the album received an average score of 85 based on 35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

In The Observer, Kitty Empire described Sleep Well Beast as an exponent of "the tension created by the hyper-musical brother duos, pacing the cage of what 'rock band' means with increased vigour. It often adds up to a subtle, grown-up take that still leaves space for drama."

Accolades Publication Accolade Rank NME NMEs Albums of the Year 2017 RIOT Mag RIOT's Albums of the Year 2017 Rough Trade Albums of the Year Stereogum 50 Best Albums of 2017 Vinyl Me, Please The 30 Best Albums of 2017 Sputnikmusic Top 50 Albums of 2017 Grammy AwardsWinner: Best Alternative Music Album Nominated: Best Recording PackageDiffuser.fmTop 25 Albums of 2017Yahoo!Top 10 Albums of 2017The Sunday Times100 Best Albums of 2017Under the RadarTop 100 Albums of 2017Uncut75 Best Albums of 2017NewsweekBest Albums of 2017Q50 Best Albums of 2017Rolling Stone50 Best Albums of 2017MojoTop 50 Albums of 2017Uproxx50 Best Albums of 2017USA Today10 Favorite Albums of 2017American SongwriterTop 25 Albums of 2017

Track listing All lyrics and melodies written by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser; all music composed by Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner; except where noted.

Notes "Walk It Back" includes an excerpt from the article "Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush" by Ron Suskind, first published in The New York Times.

Personnel

The National Matt Berninger – vocals, lyrics, melodies, arrangement, performance Aaron Dessner – arrangement, performance, drum programming Bryce Dessner – arrangement, performance, drum programming Bryan Devendorf – drum programming, arrangement, performance Scott Devendorf – arrangement, performance

Additional musicians Carin Besser – lyrics, melodies Maaike van der Linde – additional orchestration Benjamin Lanz – trombone, synth Kyle Resnick – trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals Lisa Hannigan – vocals Arone Dyer – vocals Justin Vernon – synths, vocals Andi Toma – keyboards, audio processing Jan St. Werner – keyboards, audio processing Maaike van der Linde – bass flute, flute Romain Bly – horn Thomas Bartlett – keyboards Jason Treuting – drums, percussion Eric Cha-Beach – drums, percussion Nick Lloyd – organ Ryan Olson – audio processing Erwan Castex – keyboards, electronic percussion Alexander Ridha – electronic percussion David Chalmin – drum processing James McAlister – drum programming Josh Kaufman – guitar Katia Labèque – piano Walter Martin – Vox Continental Organ Benjamin Lanz – touring musician Kyle Resnick – touring musician

Paris orchestral sessions ensemble Charlotte Juillard – violin Domitille Gilon – violin Nikolai Spassov – violin Marc Desjardins – violin Ariadna Teyssier – violin Leslie Boulin Raulet – violin Matthias Piccin – violin Pauline Hauswirth – violin Emilie Duch-Sauzeau – violin Sarah Chenaf – viola Marine Gandon – viola Benachir Boukhatem – viola Juliette Salmona – cello Barbara Le Liepvre – cello Ella Jarrige – cello Thomas Garoche – basses Grégoire Dubruel – basses Louise Lapierre – bassoon Emma Landarrabilco – flute Bastien Nouri – oboe Renaud Guy–Rousseau – clarinet Cédric Bonnet – horn

Production Aaron Dessner – production; additional recording Bryce Dessner – orchestration, co-production Matt Berninger – co-production Peter Katis – additional production ; mixing Jonathan Low – recording, additional mixing David Chalman – recording Sean O'Brien – recording Jan St. Werner – additional recording Andi Toma – additional recording Greg Calbi – mastering Steve Fallone – co-mastering

Artwork Graham MacIndoe – album photography Luke Hayman – design Andrea Trabucco-Campos – design Elaynna Blaser-Gould – design

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2017) Peakposition Italian Albums (FIMI) 13 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 2 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) 8 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) Click on "Veckans albumlista". 2

Year-end charts Chart (2017) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 32 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 173 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) 52

Chart (2018) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 101

Certifications

Notes

References