Oh my god…it’s been so long since I reviewed an album I was
actually interested in. The last The National album (or should that be “the
last album by the The National”?) was good but didn’t hit me the way High
Violet did. I ended up really liking the El Vy album. I know nothing about this
new one because I refuse to turn away from the shadows on the wall of my cave.
Go, go, go, The National!
1. Nobody Else Will Be There
I had to check to make sure it was actually playing. That’s
a gentle slope getting to the actual music. This is a great song title when
paired with the album cover and a pretty solid name for an opening song. “Hope
you didn’t want to share this experience with anyone!”. The staticky beat
sounds like when a record ends and clicks and pops to a rhythym. I don’t like
the affected slurring in the third verse when he says “why are we still out
here/holding our coats”. I want him to mumble a little better. I’m not sure
what this song is about because it’s mostly just the title repeated over and
over but I’m good with that. The lyrics I’ve picked out aren’t fantastic but
the title is so I’m going to say this works well – short piano riffs, static
pop beat, and a clever phrase on repeat. It’s every artsy downtempo act on
Ninja Tune! I like it.
2. Day I Die
That’s some frantic drumming! I thought it was electronic at
first but I don’t think The National does that. Another good title. Not great,
but it certainly sets the mood along with the album title and the last song and
the opening lines are so great/harsh/real I had to look them up to be sure: “I
don't need you, I don't need you/Besides I barely ever see you anymore/And when
I do it feels like you're only halfway there”. I don’t love the 90210 theme
electric guitar accents at the end of some of the verses and the lyrics are
losing me. They actually seem a little trite or obvious or literal or something
that’s not the poetry I want to follow the opening lines. Still, they have a
good formula that still works of building up to being able to say their song
titles over and over and this is no exception.
3. Walk It Back
A talking any synthesizer intro, and here come the The
National echoing rhythm elements. His vocals sound strained on this song so far
but mostly I’m thinking about how many different ways I can say “the The
National”. Maybe it’s that the vocals are too clear and underproduced. I don’t
want to hear the saliva film and then divide at the back of his throat between
words. OH JESUS, IT’S AN EXCERPT FROM A DOCUMENTARY OR INTERVIEW Better than an
answering machine message, but still among the lowest of the low songwriting
crutches. Forget this song. It was kind of dumb before the talking and now I’m
tossing it in the gutter alongside the freeway with nothing but a worn blanket
and a bottle of brownish water.
//
4. The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness
Well that’s a pretentious song title. It opens with female
vocals going “oooh” though so I will excuse it. I’m ready for something else
after the last song made me so irritated. This one has lots of heavy/steady low
drumming and the melodic accents don’t jump out as much. I’m going out of my
way not to listen to the lyrics this time though. I appreciate how this song
sounded low and grounded at the start but really soared into the imaginary sky
in my head by the end.
5. Born To Beg
Was there always this much piano in their songs? Probably.
For some reason it’s standing out more to me now. This song is slow. It seems
like a pretty awesome love song. Wait…what? “New York is older/And changing its
skin again”. Who cares about New York? I hate Master of None and Louie and any
other crap that celebrates New York for New York’s sake. Why did this good song
about people suddenly turn into something about a stupid city? Maybe it’s
supposed to be a parallel to a relationship but I don’t get it. New York means
nothing to me.
6. Turtleneck
Huh. I missed the start of this song. It’s really going all
out now though. The guitars sound like fighting cats and he is really SINGING
SO HARD, MAN. I think songs like this are important to break up the album
sometimes but so far this is worse than the song with the talking. Which wasn’t
actually all that bad, it just had talking. This song is actually bad. It doesn’t
fit with the rest of the album at all and it sounds like they’re playing to a
half-filled rodeo at the county fair.
7. Empire Line
That’s more like it. Back to hollow echoes and thumps. This
song is mostly atmosphere and lyrics. I’m really seeing through the lyrics on
this album but it annoys me less on this song and the atmosphere is GREAT.
Halfway through the beat starts to distort a little and then “I've been talking
about you to myself/Cause there's nobody else” hits. Probably my favorite song
so far.
8. I’ll Still Destroy You
This is a …funky…intro. I feel like I’m in a Talking Heads
outtake. Did he say he’d destroy me some other time and that’s what the song
title means? Or maybe this is about destroying himself. That seems more likely
because I’m pretty sure this song is about getting high in various ways because
GUESS WHAT LIFE SUCKS AND CONSTANTLY MAKES YOU FEEL BAD SO EVERYONE CRAVES
ESCAPE. I appreciate the “molecules and caplets” line because it’s definitely
evocative of what it’s trying to be without flat-out saying “Hey, do you
remember reading Romeo and Juliet in 9th grade?”. The opening bars
set the wrong tone for me but overall I’m liking this song. Hopefully it
eventually sticks the way “Afraid of Everyone” did. I’ll just take the rest of
this song to paste the lyrics to the amazing hook from a totally different
song:
With
my kid on my shoulders I try
Not
to hurt anybody I like
But
I don't have the drugs to sort
I
don't have the drugs to sort it out
9. Guilty Party
The glitch intro is nice. I have to say, for all my
complaining about the lyrics they’re really starting to work in the context of
the album. This is no John Darnielle opus, but as brutal and realistic songs about
divorce go this is pretty solid. The actual music isn’t much to note but it’s
not supposed to be. The bits of strings are nice. Nice strings, good strings.
Here’s a treat.
10. Carin At The Liquor Store
That is NOT how you spell “Karen”. There’s only one way to
spell it and every other way is wrong and dumb. Is “hand in glove” a Smiths
reference? Sure. Let’s just say it is. This isn’t very Smiths-like though. Oh
wait…he’s claiming her name is pronounced “kuh-rinn”. Bull. That’s not a real
name, or if it is that’s not how you spell it. The song name coming up when the
song started completely obliterated my ability to enjoy this song. Also, I feel
like he’s saying “foregone conclusion” over and over to try to sound smart,
like Andrew Bird without a violin.
11. Dark Side of the Gym
No way this isn’t about high school. Yep. Clearly about high
school. There’s a 50s doo-wop angle to this but I don’t think he’s that old. Oh
well, whatever. This song is kind of a cop-out, but not terrible. I don’t want
to know if he married his high school sweetheart because if he did it will
totally ruin the song for me. I guess I could slow dance with a teenager to
this. If I was also a teenager. Let me make that part clear.
12. Sleep Well Beast
Back to the glitch robots. They were never in high school. I
think the The National goes to a lot more parties than I do, or ever had. This
is a solid closer and fits the general theme of the album. Which seems to be about
a lifelong relationship and the ups and downs of it. I appreciate that it’s not
all new love like most love-related songs are. This isn’t “I broke up with my
girlfriend and I’m kinda sad” – it’s “I’ve invested the majority of my adult
life in this person and no longer have a sense of self without them”. The
actual song itself isn’t the best one though because the robots have a farting
interlude halfway through.
Final Rating:
Four and a half imaginary
divorces out of five. The last one got back together for the sake of the
kids and it ended up all working out. Not the best of the The National’s albums
but a strong solid batch of mostly cohesive songs that I will actually listen
to again and again instead of just putting High Violet on whenever I see the
cover.
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