Oh brother! I've only recently come to this conclusion myself, but the National have just released the best album of their career.
2001's self-titled album and 2003's Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers were certainly fine, literate, memorable warm-ups for the brilliant Alligator, but with Boxer, the National have finally delivered their knockout.
Ahem.
If Alligator sounded like sitting with your sweetheart inside a car that smells of fast food burgers while outside a slow drizzle covers everything in the night, then Boxer sounds like the memory of that night a year later.
Past albums may have had moments that could be considered restrained, or subtle, but here these qualities fill out the entire album making it their most elegant work as well as perhaps the saddest and most nostalgic.
Though a few songs may take the cake as the quietest, gentlest moments in the entire National discography (the relaxed intro to "Fake Empire," or the bittersweet lyrical guitar in "Green Gloves"), the band still manages to create a sense of dynamics that keep everything fresh, forward-moving, and on the edge no matter how low the volume knob may seem turned down.
This should be credited to the amazing chemistry between the bands two sets of brothers (bassist Scott Devendorf/drummer Bryan Devendorf, and guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner).
The rhythm section gets plenty seductive and sinister, earning that Beggar's Banquet stamp of approval in the sharp one-two punch of "Brainy" and "Squalor Victoria.
" Though more prevalent in the live show, the drums all over the album are dark and gloomy and swell subtly, creating tension against the beautiful guitar sounds of the brothers Dessner.
The guitarists creep their own darkness into the background of an otherwise catchy, almost radio-friendly "Slow Show," whose piano break serves as a vehicle that travels back in time to reference their self-titled album's "29 Years" as Matt Berninger sings "You know I dreamed about you for twenty-nine years before I saw you.
" Consider it an epilogue, as Berninger's lyrics tend to make each song feel like a different chapter to a novel with himself as the narrator.
The protagonist still hasn't found a resolution, it seems.
While the other band members lock together musically with their family ties, Berninger's woes stick out like a fifth wheel.
Whether he's being mistaken for a stranger by his own friends, or dragging around from the end of someone's coat for two weeks, he always perfectly expresses the awkwardness of being in the position of odd man out.
He reaches rock bottom in "Slow Show" when he sings "I want to start over/I want to be winning/way out of sync from the beginning.
" But Boxer is far from being an alienating listen.
Three quarters of the way through the album, the subtly refreshing and awakening "Start a War" wipes the slate clean and suddenly everything feels fresh.
It would have made an excellent opener.
Coming after "Apartment Story," the most upbeat song on the album, it is astonishing that such a restrained song like "Start a War" can come as such a punch in the face.
This says plenty about how well The National can still convey genuine emotion and energy without having to shove it in the listeners face.
2001's self-titled album and 2003's Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers were certainly fine, literate, memorable warm-ups for the brilliant Alligator, but with Boxer, the National have finally delivered their knockout.
Ahem.
If Alligator sounded like sitting with your sweetheart inside a car that smells of fast food burgers while outside a slow drizzle covers everything in the night, then Boxer sounds like the memory of that night a year later.
Past albums may have had moments that could be considered restrained, or subtle, but here these qualities fill out the entire album making it their most elegant work as well as perhaps the saddest and most nostalgic.
Though a few songs may take the cake as the quietest, gentlest moments in the entire National discography (the relaxed intro to "Fake Empire," or the bittersweet lyrical guitar in "Green Gloves"), the band still manages to create a sense of dynamics that keep everything fresh, forward-moving, and on the edge no matter how low the volume knob may seem turned down.
This should be credited to the amazing chemistry between the bands two sets of brothers (bassist Scott Devendorf/drummer Bryan Devendorf, and guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner).
The rhythm section gets plenty seductive and sinister, earning that Beggar's Banquet stamp of approval in the sharp one-two punch of "Brainy" and "Squalor Victoria.
" Though more prevalent in the live show, the drums all over the album are dark and gloomy and swell subtly, creating tension against the beautiful guitar sounds of the brothers Dessner.
The guitarists creep their own darkness into the background of an otherwise catchy, almost radio-friendly "Slow Show," whose piano break serves as a vehicle that travels back in time to reference their self-titled album's "29 Years" as Matt Berninger sings "You know I dreamed about you for twenty-nine years before I saw you.
" Consider it an epilogue, as Berninger's lyrics tend to make each song feel like a different chapter to a novel with himself as the narrator.
The protagonist still hasn't found a resolution, it seems.
While the other band members lock together musically with their family ties, Berninger's woes stick out like a fifth wheel.
Whether he's being mistaken for a stranger by his own friends, or dragging around from the end of someone's coat for two weeks, he always perfectly expresses the awkwardness of being in the position of odd man out.
He reaches rock bottom in "Slow Show" when he sings "I want to start over/I want to be winning/way out of sync from the beginning.
" But Boxer is far from being an alienating listen.
Three quarters of the way through the album, the subtly refreshing and awakening "Start a War" wipes the slate clean and suddenly everything feels fresh.
It would have made an excellent opener.
Coming after "Apartment Story," the most upbeat song on the album, it is astonishing that such a restrained song like "Start a War" can come as such a punch in the face.
This says plenty about how well The National can still convey genuine emotion and energy without having to shove it in the listeners face.