Kevin Bronson on August 4th, 2015

0

EL VY is the new collaboration between Matt Berninger, the wine-swilling frontman of the National, and Brent Knopf of Portland indie-rockers Menomena (and now Ramona Falls). First, they point out, it’s pronounced “el vie” (rhymes with “hell die”) and go on to explain that their friendship dates back to their mid-’00s days as tourmates. Over the years they exchanged song ideas until in late 2014 they got together to make the album “Return to the Moon,” due Oct. 30 via 4AD Records. That they’re not calling this a “side project” is a matter of semantics — today’s announcement points out that both the National and Ramona Falls have new material in the works. Whatever it is, it’s fun, judging from the album’s title track and its tongue-twisting subtitle, “Return to the Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo).” It’s a poppy, dance-punk inspired track that Berninger glides through like it’s no big deal. It’s hard to believe, given his catalog, yet Berninger says: “This record is more autobiographical than anything else I’ve written, but the details aren’t true. 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.” We’ll go along with the story. The lyric video is here.

||| Stream: “Return to the Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo)”

||| Live: EL VY play Nov. 7 at the Troubadour. Tickets go on sale at 1 p.m. Friday.

||| Also: Our favorite concert photo of Matt Berninger ever.