Matt Berninger from the National and Menomena/Ramona Falls’ Brent Knopf have joined forces for a LP under EL VY. According to a press release, the name is “pronounced like a plural of Elvis; rhymes with ‘hell pie.'” The debut record, Return to the Moon, is set to come out on October 30th through 4AD. Watch the lyric video for the title track here. The album cover is above and the tracklisting is below. 

Berninger and Knopf will tour under EL VY later this year.  

The men discussed working together in a press release. “I never worried about sending Matt something unfinished,” Knopf said. “He’s able to imagine where it can go. He can grab the four bars that will become the core of the track and develop them into something amazing.”

“This record is more autobiographical than anything else I’ve written, but the details aren’t true,” said Berninger. “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.”
Return to the Moon tracklist:

01 Return to the Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, With Crescendo)

02 I’m the Man to Be

03 Paul Is Alive

04 Need A Friend

05 Silent Ivy Hotel 

06 No Time to Crank the Sun

07 It’s a Game

08 Sleepin’ Light (ft. Ural Thomas)

09 Sad Case

10 Happiness, Missouri

11 Careless

EL VY tour dates:

11-02-03 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge

11-04 Seattle, WA – Neumos

11-06 San Francisco, CA – The Independent

11-07 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour

11-10 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer

11-11 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club

11-13 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom

11-14 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg

11-15 Boston, MA – The Sinclair

11-16 Montreal, Québec – Theatre Fairmount

11-17 Toronto, Ontario – Opera House

11-19 Chicago, IL – Metro

11-20 Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom

11-21 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue

12-01 Copenhagen, Denmark – Pumpehuse

12-02 Hamburg, Germany – Knust

12-03 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg

12-04 Cologne, Germany – Kantine

12-06 Berlin, Germany – Astra

12-07 Brussels, Belgium – AB

12-08 Paris, France – Trabendo

12-10 London, England – Electric Ballroom

12-12 Manchester, England – Gorilla

12-13 Dublin, Ireland – Whelans