110, The National - Boxer (2007)

The National are a band I like and respect, despite the fact that they've only released one album that I like without reservation, and this isn't it. One could almost say the idea of the National is more promising than the National themselves--dour, gloomy, moody music, written and produced with an exactness so complete that it borders on the obsessive. The most noticeable thing about these guys at first is Matt Berninger's vocals--he's a baritone, and he's got the kind of voice that seems to embody pain and suffering without being excessive about it. The problem with this album in particular is that it's too much of a slow-burner--music this emotionally fraught needs a few moments of release (like the four tracks "Secret Meeting", "Friend of Mine", "Abel" and "Mr. November" from Alligator, each of which were placed perfectly to relieve the tension). There just isn't any of that here. It's all slow and dark and ponderous. The sheer weight of the style sucks all the power out of what would otherwise be great tracks ("Slow Show" and "Apartment Story"). Only the opening track, "Fake Empire", really works--there's a lightness in the opening piano line that is missing from the rest of the album and since it's encountered first the style seems invigorating instead of depressing, as it does near the end. I don't want to impugn this album too much because the National do what they do better than anyone else and this really is a mostly gorgeous, well-written record; it's just too much of the same thing.

MY RATING: 6.9

The National - "Squalor Victoria"