The National - Trouble Will Find Me

thayil has a philosophy degree iirc? the white wife of degrees

Chris Cornell shares a last name with an Ivy League school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_aN81SBI3A

this is a pretty typical National ballad but the arrangement is so gorgeous, feels like the best version of them as a band

I've noticed lately a trend of indie rock bands, who've already had basically a full lifespan by rock standards, ie multiple successful album/tour cycles across a decade plus, attempting to navigate a subsequent phase of being older and more low key, but also with stable home lives and families. I like it! It's interesting. The cliches have been done, and anyway will continue to be performed in perpetuity.

Incidentally, a good example of the converse would be Arcade Fire, who've insisted they approach every album like their first, and are commensurately self serious.

With diminishing returns!

I guess there's a spectrum between constant reinvention (AF, Arctic Monkeys) vs continual refinement (The National, Spoon maybe?)

Late Spoon >> late The National imho.

I reckon Spoon are underrated as experimenters. Traditionalists in many ways, sure, but every album has a very distinct sonic flavor. That said I'm a spoon fanboy so yknow.

I can't think of a single Spoon album I'd rather not hear ever again. I'm afraid I can't say the same for The National.

love their cover of Terrapin Station w/2 guys from Grizzly Bear that Man Alive posted the other day. a long song I can put on repeat.

A career career career!

But yes, as someone who is about to turn 40, I have a great deal of time for any musician - band, solo artist, mum, dad, whatever - who is continuing to make music and avoiding reliving cliched rock-n-roll fountain-of-youth cliches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifElv18k2O8

this is v good

apparently all the new national songs heard in this have been dramatically remixed for the film

i think this might be the best National album

unfortunately there's not much more in the way of upbeat art-rockers like "You Had Your Soul With You" and the moody midtempo tracks they've always preferred still dominate

Not In Kansas seems a standout on first listen but there's a lot to take in, especially with all the guest vocalists.

Must be a couple of their longest ever tracks on this record too.

i really like "where is her head", the way it builds with all the overlapping vocals is wonderful

the interpolation of thinking fellers union local 282's "noble experiment" in "not in kansas" was quite unexpected but it's nice to be reminded of that

i think this might be the best National album

as long as it's better than the last one.

it's in many ways a continuation of the last one but lacks a moodbreaker like "turtleneck"

unfortunately there's not much more in the way of upbeat art-rockers like "You Had Your Soul With You" and the moody midtempo tracks they've always preferred still dominate

this is true but sometimes the intricate arrangements trick you into thinking they are not moody midtempo tracks cf. "the pull of you"

holy shit "Not in Kansas": a monologue about Berninger's reminiscing about R.E.M.'s "Begin the Begin."

the guest vocalists actually make this thing feel less long than it is

I do regret that they didn't write a song for "Her Father in the Pool."

xps yeah the arrangements are what i like the most about this album, it's probably not their strongest collection of songs but the arrangements are all their best and most interesting they've ever been

"turtleneck" was the worst thing about sleep well beast, completely out of place and also just not very good

the guest vocalists are all very welcome and provide a nice foil for berninger, but none of them have quite the same impact as when gail ann dorsey first comes in on the bridge of "you had your soul with you"

i am probably going to attempt to edit this and sleep well beast down to a single album to finally make a national album that i love the whole way through

sleep well beast is a great record imo, i was disappointed at the time with how conservative at least half of it feels, and "turtleneck" sucks, but "empire line" -> "i'll still destroy you" -> "guilty party" is maybe my favorite sequence on any national record, and the new one is kind of like that sequence as a whole album

i revisited sleep well beast today and that was the sequence that really stood out to me so i'm really glad they went further in that direction this time. "the system only dreams in total darkness" is one of their absolute bests and "dark side of the gym" is a really lovely melody too. the rest of the album is just fine except "turtleneck" yeah, and the title track feels like a dry run for some of the more abstract parts of the new album but those highs are all wonderful.

i'll stan for carin at the liquor store

oof, i love the orchestration on this but the way they've done the vocals (and, frankly, the melodies) makes it feel like a second-rate attempt at what Young Galaxy do so well

wait, young galaxy?

"the pull of you" is absolutely perfect

first testament was really great
the sequel was incredible
like the godfathers or the first two strokes
every document's indelible

"not in kansas" -> "so far so fast" are like the two best national songs ever, right in a row

and "oblivions" is the kind of song only they could write

There's some lovely stuff on this record. I don't know if it is their best album, but on first listen there is nothing that stands out as a reason why it couldn't be.

Man, "Not In Kansas." It's been ... I don't know how long since I heard a song that made me want to focus on and figure out its lyrics so badly.

when "Rylan starts, I sing, "Got my mind SET. ON. YOU."

i like the "flowers of guatamala" reference ("the flowers cover over everything") a couple of verses after "i'm listening to r.e.m. again"

The contemporary classical bent of whichever one of the brothers is into that stuff really pays off on this album's arrangements.

this is so long and so unified in its approach that I'm having a hard time parsing individual songs as opposed to a constantly alternating set of peaks and valleys. which I guess for some will be sort of an apotheosis of Their Thing but I'm not really finding any points of entry beyond a few standout ideas here and there. "You Had Your Soul With You" had me hoping this wouldn't be the case. (as always I reserve the right to change my mind later lol)

like, there are a ton of sonic ideas here but all of them are incorporated into every single track, y'know? relax!!

Brad, you are getting me very excited about this new album. it's not on Spotify until Friday however.

They're the most intricately boring band I've ever heard.

"you had your soul with you" is absolutely their best track ever

simon i have a feeling you’ll like this the more you spend time with it. it wasn’t billed as a double album but it works like one: the songs talk to each other, and it works itself into weird subspaces. oddly i think watching the movie is a way in too, it enriches specific lyrics

i will say the album is more ballad-forward than i expected or hoped but i’ve already adjusted

yeah same

the only real dud for me is Rylan which i know is apparently a fan favourite because it's been floating around for 8 years or something but it's still them at their most middle-of-the-road even though the arrangement is a lot better than it would have been a decade ago

I think the album is a bundle of good contradictions. It's not really a double album but feels like one, it's ballad heavy but not necessarily chill, it's got some of Matt's best lyrics and singing but he often takes a back seat to other singers and singing, it's got some pretty jarring experimental elements but it's totally MOR. And so on.

Oh, and needless to say, the drumming is incredible.

i love every lyric and sound in "quiet light"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S37thEwlWPA

good performance of "you had your soul with you", with string section and second drummer (no gail ann dorsey though)

learning how not to cry every time there's another sad unbearable morning
but sometimes there's nothing i can do
i can't help it

the drumming on "quiet light" is brilliant, bryan devendorf seems to get better with every album somehow