From the very beginning The National proved they were worthy of comparisons to Leonard Cohen, the master of gloom and Alt rockers REM but never more so than the song, 'Sorrow'. "Sorrow found me when i was young, sorrow waited sorrow won." According to Matt Berninger, singer and lyricist, 'Sorrow' is about a persons own relationship with their sorrow- a relationship that should be celebrated. A subject that most artists would shy away from but is spread out through High Violet, an album that does celebrate the dark and the heavy because after all, these are the emotions that unite us all, everyone feels these things: sorrow, disappointment, fear and anxiety.
Becoming a father seems to have just heightened these emotions for Berninger, or rather his awareness of them. In 'Afraid of Everyone', over the eerie harmonies of fellow indie rocker Sufjan Stevens and the pensive harmonium of Padma Newsome, Berninger croons "with my kid on my shoulders i'll try not to hurt anybody I like, but I don't have the drugs to sort it out...i'm afraid of everyone."
Now 10 years since their formation, it seems impossible for the band to create a bad record. They've marked themselves out from the underground and blog-o-sphere where they dwelled for years. It was in 1991 when Matt Berninger met bassist Scott Devendorf at the University of Cincinatti where they were both studying graphic design. Together they moved to New York in search of work.
Bryan, Scott's brother, was friends with the Dessner twins and had already been in several bands with them when, in 1999 the trio joined Matt and Scott from their hometown of Cincinatti, Ohio and formed The National.
This connection with Ohio is alluded in the first single taken from the album, 'Bloodbuzz Ohio'. With bombastic drumming from Bryan Devendorf and swelling orchestration via The Clogs' aforementioned Padma Newsome, 'Bloodbuzz' is one of the closest things The National have produced to a pop song however, even this song is a richly, brooding song that delves into the character's insecurities; isolation is the theme that drives the song forward. Like each member of The National, this character lives in a big city, it could be New York, it could be not, but while visiting friends and family in the town they grew up in- they realise that it doesn't feel like home anymore, but then neither does the city they live in. Troubled with money woes, "I still owe money to the money, to the money I owe" the character feels more alone and isolated than ever before, "I never thought about love when i thought about home" he sings in the chorus.
His need for escape is expressed in the sexy, sleek 'Lemonworld'. Full of melodrama and mystery he is stuck in a fabricated, fictional world with two sexy sisters who get drunk and wear bathing suits all day. Lemonworld's protagonist desparately tries to stay afloat in his middleclass, suburban life eventually ending up in a tug-of-war between sanity and reality.
Despite the ominous and darkness of their songs, The National still manage to add subtle hints of humour. Dark humour it may be, but humour nonetheless. In 'Conversation 16' Matt Berninger tells his wife that "I was afraid i'd eat your brains, coz i'm evil", and that he has his, "head in the oven so you know where i'll be."
These fun and nonsensical lyrics can catch you off guard especially after listening to songs like the heart wrenching, 'Runaway' featuring the same fingerpicking patterns from Aaron and Bryce that were heard on Alligator and Boxer.
Similarly the epic 'England' full of huge illuminating horn arrangements and orchestration compliments the weary and tired sound of arguably The National's most recognisable quality, Matt Berninger's low, rumbling baritone as he dwells on the lover who is living overseas, "you must be somewhere in London, you must be loving your life in the rain" he sings while he remains "in a Los Angeles cathedral" contemplating the simple geography that keeps them apart. Berninger has the amazing ability to sound deeply pained and contain emotional depth in his voice that many other frontmen can only wish of obtaining. The lover is left helpless and frustrated against the ocean that keeps them apart, heartbroken he sings, "someone send a runner through the weather that i'm under for the feeling that I lost today, someone send a runner for the feeling that I lost today."
It will come as no surprise then to anyone who has listened to past albums of The National's such as Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, angst filled Alligator or 2007's masterpiece Boxer that High Violet is not a light listen that is instantly embedded into the mind but rather a subtle and sincere record that over time gently begins to occupy a space in your heart. About a year since it's release and High Violet still proves to be relevant. I still regularly play this album from beginning to end and am blown away because this album and these songs changed my life and the way I think and feel about music. As I said at the beginning, given the chance, this album could stay with you forever!
5*
(Also see Top 10 albums of 2010)
Track List:
1. Terrible Love
2. Sorrow
3. Anyone's Ghost
4. Little Faith
5. Afraid of Everyone
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio
7. Lemonworld
8. Runaway
9. Conversation 16
10. England
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
Expanded Edition
- Terrible Love (Alternate Version)
- Wake Up Your Saints
- You Were A Kindness
- Walk Off
- Sin-Eaters
- Bloodbuzz Ohio (Live on The Current)
- Anyone's Ghost (Live at The Brooklyn Academy of Music)
- England (Live at The Brooklyn Academy of Music)
Good review. I'm using my Google, but I follow as poppippop on tumblr.
ReplyDeleteAll said, I've been listening to High Violet well into this year too and as recently as a couple weeks ago.