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Product Description
Review
Brooklyn's The National are the absolute antithesis of an overnight success. Together for over a decade, the group's slow ascent to international acclaim has been emotional. While several critics have clicked with albums of swollen heart and bruised soul, a handful have mistaken deliberate, delectable languor for dismissible listlessness. But those who've embraced Matt Berninger's baritone, and subsequently each fascinating detail that trails in its wake, have discovered a band for life–for love and loss, euphoric highs and exhausting lows. For everything, always.
2005's Alligator–its Daughters of the Soho Riots still empties the air from this listener's lungs every time–marked the moment The National broke underground (2010 parlance: 'blogosphere') cover, and they've refined and arguably improved their output ever since. High Violet is the quintet's fifth long-player proper (and highest of profile yet), following 2007's excellent Boxer, and again features orchestral embellishments courtesy of Clogs' Padma Newsome. It is being talked about in certain circles as a potential album of the year, but this is no release to shout about from the rooftops in the hope of attracting strangers. Its charms are subtle, its grip soft and easily shrugged by those who choose to pay it only passing attention. Live with it a while, though, and High Violet rewards patience with songs that colour one's waking existence, becoming vivid night-time narratives when curtains are drawn.
Berninger's lyrics, though tonally divisive, are incredibly engaging. He's no Steinbeck, no Kerouac, despite endorsements from the most feverishly faithful; but his stories, delivered with wrenching sincerity, form the first point of entry for newcomers awaiting enlightenment. High Violet is an album characterised largely by absence, and displacement–of being someplace other than ideal. This extends from simple geography–the overseas lover of England's vexed protagonist, the big-city claustrophobia of the luscious Little Faith–to the afterlife ruminations of Anyone's Ghost, a song that blindsides with its switch from aloof coolness to an affecting concession of continued allegiance after death parts its players.
To the untrained (read: unfocused) ear, High Violet may sound pedestrian. But such drama lies in the richly textured nuances that this album ultimately plays like a movie you'd never dream of breaking from, whatever the reason. Set fire to the theatre and The National will play on, those who paid attention earlier again foregoing comfort for captivating beauty, until the final flames flicker into stillness. --Mike Diver
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow,
By
This review is from: High Violet (Audio CD)
Its to my great shame that I have taken so long to find out about The National. This time last week my life was less enriched than it is now, thanks to this album, and it's sibling album "The Boxer" This is proper music, intelligent, articulate, multifaceted, emotional.....I have listened to the album 3 times now and with each play I'm further emerged in it. You continually discover new things, nuances, meanings of lyrics...its the gift that keeps on giving.Buy this album, no ifs or buts....its truly a masterpiece!
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Faith restored............,
By
This review is from: High Violet (Audio CD)
If you have been with them a while, you have , I suspect been frustrated at how such musical magnificence can go so unnoticed. Surely they can't go on producing such statuesque musical moments of beauty, without the world sitting up and taking notice. It seems the world is, if the 'buzz' about High Violet is anything to go by, at last coming to its senses. If you heard Boxer then you may well have wondedered if it could be done again or bettered.Well I will be honest I dont know yet- its feels as good, but dont know if it will linger in my head and create such devotion as Boxer did.As I write I am listening to 'England', my arms are tingling,it is spellbinding. Hyperbolae ? exaggeration? No, I kid you not, this band are as perfect as you are going to get, musically, lyrically and as good as it gets. it has one minor flaw, there isn't an immediately accessible track, that makes you go around humming its tune (as is 'Fake Empire from Boxer), 'Lemonworld' is as near as this album gets to catchy. So where does the force come from, as usual its Matt Beringers voice (haunting without trying) and if you are sick of basic 4/4/ drumming, then have a listen to some of the magnificent drum patterns that weave around sparse guitar work and gentle piano.I have read somewhere they did 80 takes of one song, then plumped for the original take-you get that feeling of dedication and intensity on every song. Its intense, powerfully subtle, and quite beautiful. I dont care if its deemed album of the year, its my album of the moment, a bone fide masterpiece.It has restored my faith in new music S.R.J
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply stunning,
This review is from: High Violet (Audio CD)
When i was first given this album, I was a bit dubious. On first listen it sounded a bit monotonous- Matt Berninger's baritone seemingly numbing the subtle, low key tunes. However, gradually, tracks began to bloom. The second half of the album did this first- Lemon World's unusual detail in the chorus was quickly overwhelmed by some of the most beautiful verses i've heared- once they've caught, you'll do well to stop listening to it all day. Vanderlyle- the last track and England, the penultimate one, soon became tracks I would enjoy immensely. However, it's the first half of the album that eventually offered the most. Tracks 1,3 4 and 5 all gleamed after a number of listens into some of my favourite tracks of the year. But it's Sorrow that has overwhelmed me. You'll do well to find a subtler, more beautiful song than this.On reflection, this is certainly one of the best albums i've owned; the coherence of the entire listen, and the incredible quality of the individual tracks themselves all make a remarkable piece of work. If you're put off by the first couple of listens, please persist. It'll reward you many times over
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