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The National |
| Alligator |
| Beggars Banquet | 2005 | Album |
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The National are a band with complex musicianship and a penchant for lyrics that don’t make sense. Lead singer Matt Berninger’s voice has a grainy whisky soaked feel and a touch of that 60’s folk singer vibe, delivering lyrics like a world-weary troubadour. Because of this, you might think that The National in a way are a throwback to some familiar yesteryear band but they really have a sound all their own.
The National also contains two pairs of brothers -- Aaron Dessner (guitars, bass) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (guitar; bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). The lyrics are witty, sarcastic, and it’s almost as if Matt Berninger put his lyrics together with his heart on the line and his eyes closed tight as the songs don’t really come across as meaning anything. However, they do have many very good lines. In the first song Secret Meeting, he sings “Didn’t anybody tell you how to disappear in a room?” Then he croons, “I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain.” Lyrics like this remind me of what William S. Burroughs used to call cut and past as most of the songs seem like a heap of good to great one-liners that were put together randomly. Luckily, the band has this great basic bar band vibe mixed with complex layers and good riffs that make them worth hearing a few times to fully get and appreciate the songs, as well as to either figure out or just understand what Matt Berninger is going for.
Some might call them nonsensical lyrics being backed by a good indie band but I think at most times the band comes across as charming with earnest songs that try to be bigger than they are, and what’s nice about The National is the fact that the songs sometimes succeed in doing so. Who needs anthems when you can have a whole album of songs filled with great one-liners like “I’m a birthday candle in a circle of black girls/God is on my side,” in the song All the Wine.
Also, it’s the slower ballads on Alligator like Looking for Astronauts and Baby We’ll be fine, which are two of the more stripped down tracks that round out this album of sometimes lackluster sometimes beautifully crafted songs, all for the same reasons above. These two slowed down ballads help highlight Matt’s wiser than his years sounding voice, that let the lyrics breath, and show the depth that this band has to offer. Some songs are better than others on this album, but as a whole, The National not only show promise but have the ability to write songs that will grow on you and continue to get better with time. |
| DaVe Lipp |
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