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The National |
| Boxer |
| Beggars Banquet | 2007 | Album |
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Hype. If you haven’t heard about this album, you must have just crawled out from under a rock. An album as hyped as this is a difficult one to praise. These days, hype seems to take more than it gives. I suppose this is why I had no idea how to tackle the review of Boxer, the new album by Brooklyn transplants the National, for about three days.
It must have come to me in a dream because I woke today with the words from the opening track, “Fake Empire,” running through my head, “Stay out super late tonight/picking apples, making pies/put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us/we’re half-awake in a fake empire.” And suddenly, it all made sense.
Hype is not always a four-letter word. Okay . . . so it is, but you know what I mean.
There is an allure about the National. And there is certainly something extraordinary about this album. Say it’s singer Matt Beringer’s gentle baritone. Say it’s the dark, moody melodies. Say it’s the oddly perfect drumbeats. Say it’s the weight of the lyrics. Or say it’s the swooshing magnificence of the soft guitars, smooth piano and subtle strings. Say it is something, and understand that this is undoubtedly one of the year’s best.
Spooky and reflective, simple yet complex, the lyrics will hit you first. Berringer writes what we all feel, making the words feel uncomplicated and familiar, but simultaneously he has us wondering how he made these straightforward words so profoundly poetic. Look to “Slow Show” to help you recall an ex, “I wanna hurry home to you/put on a slow, dumb show for you/and crack you up.” And “Green Gloves” allows for alcohol closing the distance between friends, “Falling out of touch with all my friends are somewhere getting wasted/hope they’re staying glued together, I have arms for them.”
Musically, the band has traveled a long way down a new road. The span between 2005’s moderately successful Alligatorand Boxer seems much more than two years. Alligator’s crunching guitars and piercing vocals on tracks like “Abel” and “Mr. November” have made way for the quiet and stark beauty of “Start a War” and “Ada” (featuring Sufjan Stevens on piano). Both versions of the band sound startlingly appropriate, like they have merged as one. Changing out of necessity. Changing to grow.
The growth between the two albums is almost tangible. Alligator came first for a reason. Alligator caused the hype. Alligator caused Boxer. Boxer is a sincere and insightful album that will comfort and soothe like only a good record can. The title signifies our daily human struggle and helps us cope. The band’s new soft sound sings uniquely loud and permits a once-hyped album to fulfill its promise. It is because of Boxer that we will have another hyped National album in about two years. So get in line now.
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| Nick Greto |
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