As far as sure bets go, you’re not going to find a more steadfast wager than a fantastic live performance from The National. As always, the band brought their top tier show to Letterman last night, along with Arcade Fire instrumentalist and High Violet collaborator Richard Reed Parry. Check out the ever-evolving live showing of “Conversation 16″ above.

The track will serve as the next single off their latest LP, High Violet. In further support, the band will hit the road this Spring, as they’ll travel across Europe, make an appearance Coachella, and play three nights in Chicago with Arcade Fire. Even more dates are said to be forthcoming, so stay tuned.

The National 2011 Tour Dates:
02/15 – Brussels, BE @ Forest National #
02/17 – Utrecht, NL @ Cross-Link Festival
02/18 – Eindhoven, NL @ Cross-Link Festival
02/19 – Groningen, NL @ Cross-Link Festival
02/20 – Rotterdam, NL @ Cross-Link Festival
02/22 – Krakow, PL @ Studio #
02/24 – Warsaw, PL @ Stodla #
02/25 – Berlin, DE @ C-Halle #
02/26 – Aarhus, DK @ SCC #
02/28 – Lund, SE @ Mejeriet #
03/01 – Stockholm, SE @ Cirkus #
03/03 – Helsinki, FL @ The House of Culture #
03/04 – Helsinki, FL @ The House of Culture #
03/15 – Singapore @ Mosaic Music Festival
03/17 – Tokyo, JP @ Duo
04/02 – Santiago, CL @ Lollapalooza Chile
04/10 – Mexico City, MX @ Vive Latino
04/17 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
04/19 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
04/22 – Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion *
04/24 – Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion *
04/25 – Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion *
05/23 – Porto, PT @ Coiseum
05/24 – Lisbon, PT @ Campo Pequeno
05/26-28 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound

# = w/ Sharon Van Etten
* = w/ Arcade Fire

For one, courtesy of Exclaim.ca, we’ve learned that Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, and Owen Pallett are providing an 80-minute score to the film The Box. The trio plan to invoke the spirit of the Psycho soundtrack. The track streaming for free (click here) at the movie’s official site is evidence of the that with its looping and eerie-as-can-be string work. The soundtrack doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will also feature songs by Eric Clapton, the Grateful Dead, the Marshall Tucker Band and more.

And not to be outdone, bandmate Richard Reed Perry (via TwentyFourBit) recently teamed with Nico Muhly, a composer and string arranger for bands like Grizzly Bear and Antony, to craft an orchestral composition. Entitled “For Heart and Breath and Orchestra”, the piece will be performed on October 29th by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at Muhly’s “Nico’s Choice” event at Toronto’s The Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall. According to the RC website, the performance should be both artsy and interesting.

“For ‘Heart and Breath and Orchestra’ is the third in a series of compositions which use automatic/involuntary muscles in the human body (specifically the lungs and the heart) as the performance parameters. All of the notes are read from a score, but the tempos at which they are played are all governed by either the heart rate or breathing rate of the individual players, or the conductor. During the performance, many of the performers wear stethoscopes which enable them to play in synch with their own heartbeats.”

Preview a clip from the composition here. Butler also talked to NME in June regarding plans to release their third album with minimal rest between it and 2007′s Neon Bible. As always, we’ll pass along more details.