The National write song for Portal 2

By Fred Dutton Published 11 March, 2011

Glum indie rockers "fit beautifully".

Arena-filling indie rock sulkers The National have written a song exclusively for Portal 2, publisher Valve has announced.

"The inclusion of the original song, Still Alive, in the first Portal game was part of what made the game special," explained Valve writer Chet Faliszek.

"For Portal 2, we wanted to extend the use of music. When Bug Music mentioned to us that The National might be interested, we jumped at the opportunity to work with them."

The National's music publisher Bug Music went on to explain that the US band's sound "fit beautifully" in the game world.

"After I met with Valve and learned about the intricacies and story line of the first Portal game, I knew The National's music would fit beautifully in the sequel," said spokesperson Julia Betley.

"The National's raw and emotive music evokes the same visceral reactions from its listeners that Portal does from its players. It was exciting and a privilege to bring together two exceedingly talented creative teams to create something special for Portal 2."

For those unfamiliar with The National, the Brit-nominated Ohio band has five albums of wordy, downbeat indie rock to its name. Its most recent effort, 2010's High Violet, reached number five in the UK charts on release. Check out its MySpace page for a quick sample.

Like Faliszek suggested, it seems the forthcoming sequel to the acclaimed 2007 puzzle FPS will see a real focus on music. The composer of the original game's much loved Still Alive theme has already confirmed he's written a new song for the sequel, which launches on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 22nd April.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (25) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!