Album of the Week: The National – High Violet
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A slightly late and rushed AOTW this week as I’m without my laptop just now.
The National’s fifth album has been blessed with universally excellent reviews, confirming their ascendency to the indie rock (sorry) big league.
They’re even headlining the Glasgow Academy in November, which is pretty amazing giving their humble beginnings, but reflects their ever building fanbase.
So is High Violet as good as they say? Yeah, pretty much.
I loved Boxer, and Alligator before it, and I’d rate this album as highly as those two.
It all kicks off with Terrible Love, which rolls in on slow, ominously building piano, distorted guitars and some frantic drumming, giving it quite a claustrophobic feel. It’s awesome, and honestly, I’m not sure there’s anything else here that betters it.
The opening track has a strong feel of a doomed, potentially tragic, romance (sadly I didn’t get a lyric sheet for further analysis) and the theme continues into the bleak Sorrow.
Clearly that song wasn’t going to be using the melody from the Birdie Song, but it’s particularly morose even by National standards. Anyone’s Ghost is musically cheerier but lyrically similar. You really have to think that anyone Matt Berninger may have broken up with lately should be feeling a little creeped out.
The National’s secret (well, not that secret actually) weapon is of course Berninger’s jaw-dropping baritone. Coupled with their NYC background, it earned them some ill-founded Interpol comparisons in their earlier days, but aside from marked musical differences, Berninger is also a much cannier lyricist than Paul Banks.
His tales of lost love, missing home (Bloodbuzz Ohio) and a smattering of politics (notably Fake Empire from Boxer as used by Obama, but also Afraid of Everyone on this record) are deeply poetic and I’d view him as one of the most underrated frontmen of our time.
Musically, the Dessner and Devendorf brothers bring it all together brilliantly with Terrible Love, Afraid of Everyone and Conversation 16 being the best tunes here – melodic, distinctly American and heartfelt.
I love this record and I’m delighted that it’s a good as the hype suggests.
Something tells me that the National’s time has come.
PS Want an opposing view? Have a look here. I don’t agree, but it’s amusing nonetheless.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
