The National’s Matt Berninger Performs ‘Bonnet of Pins’ on ‘Fallon’

The National frontman Matt Berninger appeared on The Tonight Show to showcase his solo track “Bonnet of Pins.” The singer performed the layered indie rock tune alongside a live band, occasionally sharing vocals with his keyboardist.

“Bonnet of Pins” comes off Berninger’s recent LP, Get Sunk, which arrived in May. The album marks his second solo effort, following the musician’s 2020 solo debut, Serpentine Prison. It about after, as Berninger said in a statement, “a long period of writer’s block and self-disgust,” during which he got fed-up asking himself, “Why am I like this?”

Berninger recorded Get Sunk with producer and engineer Sean O’Brien (who’s also credited as a co-writer on many songs). The album features musical contributions from Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Julia Laws (Ronboy), Kyle Resnick (The National, Beirut), Garret Lang, Sterling Laws, Booker T Jones, Harrison Whitford, Mike Brewer, and The Walkmen’s Walter Martin and Paul Maroon. 

Rolling Stone described the album as “politely self-indulgent” in a review, noting, “On Get Sunk, he continues to work the same tastefully tortured alt-rock his main band has always done so well, channeling his most microscopically observed thoughts, pains, hopes, desires, and worries into lovely, lonely tunes like the gentle rocker ‘Bonnet of Pins,’ the orchestral folk tune ‘Breaking Into Acting,’ and the jazz-inflected ‘Silver Jeep.’”

Berninger will head out on the road in support of Get Sunk this spring, with a North American tour kicking off May 19 in Seattle and wrapping May 30 in New York City. A European and U.K. run will follow in August and September.