There has been a recent dearth of news from The National while they’ve gone AWOL to tour in Europe.  But the silence has now thankfully been broken with the airing of the band’s great new song Lean (originally called Dying Is Easy, which was evidently deemed too dark by the filmmakers–hmmm, wonder why?).  Lean is included in the new Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack.  The song is quintessential National with Matt Berninger’s signature vocals and the band’s piano, guitar and drums, but also with some new sumptuous strings.  Check the song out below and and, after, the soundtrack’s somewhat schizophrenic artist/track list (we’d include Patti Smith, Antony, Phantogram, Lorde and Santigold–and optimally omit The Looming Errors, Of Monsters & Other Copiers and X-Tina–but that’s just us).

Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack
1. Coldplay–Atlas
2. Of Monsters and Men–Silhouettes
3. Sia (feat. The Weeknd & Diplo)–Elastic Heart
4. The National–Lean
5. Christina Aguilera–We Remain
6. The Weeknd–Devil May Cry
7. Imagine Dragons–Who We Are
8. Lorde–Everybody Wants to Rule the World
9. The Lumineers–Gale Song
10. Ellie Goulding–Mirrors
11. Patti Smith–Capital Letter
12. Santigold–Shooting Arrows at the Sky
13. Mikky Ekko–Place for Us
14. Phantogram–Lights
15. Antony & the Johnsons–Angel on Fire