Vinyl Record
The National - Laugh Track
The National - Laugh Track on 2LP vinyl. A 2023 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.
2LP ยท 2023
Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Buyer notes: 2023 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.
Laugh Track is The National's 2023 companion to First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, but it is not merely an appendix. It feels assembled from the pressure of playing again: songs tested in front of people, then carried into a studio setting with enough looseness left in the joints. The album begins with the luminous restraint of Alphabet City and Deep End, but its centre keeps widening. Weird Goodbyes, with Bon Iver, turns absence into one of the band's most open-hearted recent songs. Turn Off the House and Dreaming keep the low-lit National vocabulary intact, while Space Invader pushes toward a long-form release that feels almost defiant after the earlier 2023 quietness. The title track uses Phoebe Bridgers as a spectral counterweight, Crumble brings in Rosanne Cash, and Smoke Detector ends things in a stream of images rather than a polished farewell. As a pink-coloured vinyl title, this version has obvious shelf appeal for variant collectors; the deeper appeal is that Laugh Track catches The National letting disorder back into the frame.
Laugh Track matters because it prevents The National's 2023 from being remembered only as a year of inward repair. It brings touring energy, guest voices and extended endings into the same late-period chapter, giving the band a more restless and bodily answer to the fragility of First Two Pages Of Frankenstein.
This pink-coloured vinyl title is the variant-led route into one of The National's key late catalogue turns. It is useful for collectors who want the 2023 pair to feel visually and musically distinct: Frankenstein as the inward record, Laugh Track as the looser one with more room for sparks.
Melancholy indie rock with warmed electronics, slow piano pressure, muscular live-band swells, guest-vocal contrast and extended guitar-driven release near the end.
Recommended for: The National variant collectors; Listeners who want the more expansive 2023 album; Fans of slow-building indie rock with guest features and live-room charge.
Is this pink-coloured title a different album from Laugh Track? No. The album is Laugh Track; this catalogue title identifies the pink-coloured vinyl edition context. What songs stand out on Laugh Track? Alphabet City, Weird Goodbyes, Space Invader, Laugh Track, Crumble and Smoke Detector give a strong picture of the album. Why do collectors pair Laugh Track with First Two Pages Of Frankenstein? Both arrived in 2023 and together show two sides of the same period: inward repair on Frankenstein and looser, stage-shaped release on Laugh Track.