The National - Sleep Well Beast (2017)

2018-09-10T11:49:41Z

The National - Sleep Well Beast (2017)


1	Nobody Else Will Be There 	
2	Day I Die 	
3	Walk It Back 	
4	The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness 	
5	Born To Beg 	
6	Turtleneck 	
7	Empire Line 	
8	I'll Still Destroy You 	
9	Guilty Party 	
10	Carin At The Liquor Store 	
11	Dark Side Of The Gym 	
12	Sleep Well Beast

Backing Vocals – Arone Dyer, Lisa Hannigan
Bass Flute, Flute – Maaike van der Linde
Drums – Eric Cha-Beach
Drums, Percussion – Jason Treuting
Electronics – Alexander Ridha
Guitar – Josh Kaufman
Keyboards – Thomas Bartlett
Keyboards, Electronics – Erwan Castex
Keyboards, Programmed By – Andi Toma, Jan St. Werner
Organ – Nick Lloyd, Walter Martin
Piano – Katia Labeque
Synth, Backing Vocals – Justin Vernon
Trombone, Synth – Benjamin Lanz
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Backing Vocals – Kyle Resnick

Since The National released sixth album ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ in 2013, it’s fair to say the world has found nothing but trouble. Follow-up ‘Sleep Well Beast’ continues the theme, asking on the rollocking ‘Day I Die’, “the day I die – where will we be?”. In a bunker, sheltering from a Trumpian nuclear war at this rate.

It’s all very 2017. And it’s an album on which Matt Berninger, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and Bryan and Scott Devendorf stray outside the previously clearly defined lines of what The National sound is. It’s more experimental lyrically. For example, on ‘Walk It Back’, a skittering exploration of anxiety, we hear an excerpt of former deputy chief of staff to George W Bush, Karl Rove, quoting an aide.

And it’s more experimental sonically, too. ‘I’ll Still Destroy You’ starts with synths Jamie xx would dig. ‘Turtleneck’, one for fans of Steve Jobs’ sartorial decisions, is a revelation. A strong Pixies vibe and raucous licks that duel together happily see The National at their hardest, with Matt railing against “another man in s**tty suits”.

They’ve been added to the steadfast elements that make The National so good: clever turns of phrase, genius storytelling, Bryan Devendorf’s marching-band drums, delightful arrangements and piano and brass that work well together. All these are put to expert effect here on the sublime ‘Dark Side Of The Gym’, which is a perfect blend of old and new.

Not everything works, and ‘Guilty Party’ is the unfortunate victim of this band’s habit of chucking a monotonous dud or two on every record. But hey, this is The National at a time when a nationalist heads the most powerful country in the world. They’ve adjusted accordingly. Play it on repeat in the bunker. --- Hannah Jane Parkinson, nme.com

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The National – Trouble Will Find Me (2013)

2013-07-05T16:13:23Z

The National – Trouble Will Find Me (2013)


01 – I Should Live in Salt
02 – Demons
03 – Don’t Swallow the Cap
04 – Fireproof
05 – Sea of Love
06 – Heavenfaced
07 – This Is the Last Time
08 – Graceless
09 – Slipped
10 – I Need My Girl
11 – Humiliation
12 – Pink Rabbits
13 – Hard to Find
14 – Learning

Band members:
    Matt Berninger - lead vocals
    Aaron Dessner - guitar, keyboards
    Bryce Dessner - guitar, keyboards, orchestration
    Bryan Devendorf - drums, percussion
    Scott Devendorf - bass guitar

Remote and reserved, the National has never been a crowd-pleaser, with an aesthetic favoring prickly lyricism and unadorned musicianship, the flashiness and hooks kept to a bare minimum. Yet despite these reticent qualities, the group has always been accessible, their stoicism belying a low-key, neurotic charm, anchored by the quiet bluster of frontman Matt Berninger's lyrics, which explore disillusionment and self-doubt with consistently wry flatness. However, even with their brushes with mainstream success, the band seems increasingly intent on guarding their mystique rather than developing it, issuing another aloof album that will likely further narrow their appeal.

Trouble Will Find Me arrives as the end result of a years-long process; each effort since their 2005 breakthrough, Alligator, has been leaner and more taciturn than the last. The similarity between songs and static pacing that made many condemn 2007's Boxer have only become more ingrained, and by now it's clear that this is less a weakness than a stylistic choice, granting the music a drugged, somnolent feel. It's a tone that certainly suits accounts of suburban ennui like "Humiliation," which skirts surrealism while remaining rooted in the real world via Berninger's serious delivery, or lead single "Demons," in which the singer masterfully rhymes an entire line with a single exasperated "fuck."

Still, despite the overall solidness of the presentation, there's not a lot to latch onto here. The band has pared down the lyricism into something beguilingly simplistic, dropping the character sketches and developed structures for a system of detached couplets, free-floating images, and goofy bon mots. Rife with repetition, these lyrical passages are suspended within languid, often unexpressive rock, which limits the climactic moments to some tinkling piano keys, skittering snare drum, or an ominous cello yawn.

It's a style that feels like a definitive dead end, which leads to questions of where the National will take their sound next. If they're to be believed, the planned follow-up to Trouble Will Find Me is a relative lark, in which they'll release their recent MoMA PS1 art-installation set, a six-hour-long version of High Violet's "Sorrow." Whatever the future holds, the National has definitely entrenched themselves in a style that requires some level of endurance to appreciate; few bands are so unwelcoming and unambitious at the same time. So while Trouble Will Find Me remains well crafted and satisfying, there's something inherently stultifying about it as well. ---Jess Cataldo, slantmagazine.com

Trouble Will Find Me to szósty studyjny album rezydującej na nowojorskim Brooklynie amerykańskiej grupy indierockowej The National. Po dwudziestu dwóch miesiącach trasy koncertowej, promującej poprzedni album Hight Violet, dzięki któremu formacja zyskała miano najsmutniejszego zespołu świata, muzycy ponownie weszli do studia nagraniowego.

Trouble Will Find You jest inny w porównaniu do pięciu poprzednich albumów The National. Sami muzycy przyznają, że praca nad nim przebiegała inaczej niż zwykle. Trwałe zmęczenie i niewyspanie powodowały, że pomysły pozostawały niedopieszczone. Nie oznacza to jednak, że przestali zagłębiać się w świat kompozycji i klasycznych tekstów, tworząc muzykę dla mas. Pomysły wszystkich artystów zazębiały się, układając pierwszy album, w którym można wyczuć zaskakujący optymizm i nutę radosnego słońca.

Płyta Trouble Will Find You, jak przystało na The Nation, nie jest łatwa w odbiorze. Skomplikowane struktury rytmiczne, wysublimowane melodie i pozytywne teksty wprowadzają charakterystyczny nastrój melancholii. Pojawiają się także utwory z subtelną aranżacją (Fireproof czy I Need My Girl) zrównoważone zadziornymi kawałkami (Gracelass czy Demons). Nie zabrakło również emocjonalnego podejścia do wokali, które szczególnie można odczuć w Pink Rabbits i Slipped. ---empik.com

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Rock, Metal

The National - Sleep Well Beast (2017)

The National – Trouble Will Find Me (2013)