Brooklyn based band The
National is set to release its sixth studio album on May 21st
called Trouble Will Find Me.
The predecessor to their latest album was 2010’s High Violet. It featured a litany of
great tracks such as Little Faith,
Bloodbuzz Ohio, Lemonworld etc., by
most accounts this album was very well received, it was the strongest album The National had released up until that
point. Each track on that album carried with it a sense of dreary
reflectiveness matched with a distinctively expansive tone. If the goal of any
good musician is to create something that satisfies the part of the brain that responds
to a sense of development that ends with a crowning finish, then High Violet hit the nail right on the
head. Though, some people have an issue with Matt Berninger’s baritone voice,
finding it unfamiliar by comparison to most lead vocalists who front popular bands,
but it’s a large part of what makes The
National stand apart in a sea of tenors.
As always, the newest album from The National takes on the
subject of not being a particularly magnanimous human being and exploring the
nature of imperfect relationships. The
track Slipped has a few lyrics that
touch on what might be the overall sentiment behind this album and The National’s
music in general. The chorus goes: “I
keep coming back here where everything slips, but I will not spill my guts.”
What slips
out in The National’s music is an understanding that people suck, they drink
and fight and fuck each other over, passionately loving and hating along the
way. Though, this is not a particularly
new revelation to most, it is not so often that a band can put this
misanthropic point across in a pleasant way through their music.
It’s best to come right out and say it, Trouble Will Find Me is not as good as High Violet but that does not mean it is not a great album. The album opens up with five strong tracks
one after another; once it hits the sixth
the quality takes a slight but noticeable dip. Heavenfaced and This Is The
Last Time just don’t seem to have anything particularly striking about them,
as a result, they fail to completely satisfy the listener. But once you get to Graceless all is forgiven, this track features very strong procession that drives the song from beginning
to end. I Need My Girl is the strongest song on
the album and is reminiscent of High
Violet’s England in its use of classical string and a synthesiser.
Review of High Violet
Review of High Violet
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