when "Rylan starts, I sing, "Got my mind SET. ON. YOU."
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 21:37 (four years ago) link
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"
― rip van wanko, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 21:45 (four years ago) link
The contemporary classical bent of whichever one of the brothers is into that stuff really pays off on this album's arrangements.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 21:50 (four years ago) link
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)
― Simon H., Wednesday, 15 May 2019 02:09 (four years ago) link
like, there are a ton of sonic ideas here but all of them are incorporated into every single track, y'know? relax!!
― Simon H., Wednesday, 15 May 2019 02:10 (four years ago) link
Brad, you are getting me very excited about this new album. it's not on Spotify until Friday however.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 02:57 (four years ago) link
They're the most intricately boring band I've ever heard.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 03:05 (four years ago) link
"you had your soul with you" is absolutely their best track ever
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 03:09 (four years ago) link
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
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 11:07 (four years ago) link
i will say the album is more ballad-forward than i expected or hoped but i’ve already adjusted
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 11:08 (four years ago) link
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
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 11:49 (four years ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 11:52 (four years ago) link
i love every lyric and sound in "quiet light"
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 12:14 (four years ago) link
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)
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 12:17 (four years ago) link
learning how not to cry every time there's another sad unbearable morningbut sometimes there's nothing i can doi can't help it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 12:17 (four years ago) link
the drumming on "quiet light" is brilliant, bryan devendorf seems to get better with every album somehow
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 12:23 (four years ago) link
So these guys are definitely going all-in on everything - strings, singers, horns, etc. - for this tour?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 12:49 (four years ago) link
they've had a horn section forever but idk whether the strings etc. are sticking around for the tour or are only around for the run of album/film premiere dates they've been doing over the last month
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 12:54 (four years ago) link
wow i REALLY love this album
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 May 2019 23:09 (four years ago) link
https://www.nme.com/news/national-rockier-songs-leftover-may-get-freezer-2488317
apparently they've got a bunch of rockier material left over from the Sleep Well Beast sessions that didn't make this album either since it didn't fit the mood of the film etc. so i hope that'll be more "the system only dreams"/"you had your soul with you" than "turtleneck" whenever it sees the light of day
― ufo, Thursday, 16 May 2019 05:41 (four years ago) link
That is Bryce! His own chamber music is def worth checking out
― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, 16 May 2019 12:07 (four years ago) link
it's the way that you're going to stop needing to tell me you want me as much as i want you to
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
Their best album.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
yep
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:22 (four years ago) link
I've never top tenned one of their albums before.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:24 (four years ago) link
me neither, and it usually takes me a while to figure out how i feel about them, cf. the album this thread is named after
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbXnnn8z1tE
i get why people would dismiss "rylan," feels like it's borrowed most of its rumble from "apartment story" to create the most national national song ever, but... it's so catchy
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:47 (four years ago) link
I just thought of perfect "feat. female guest singer" example that kind of pulls off what this album does: "My Curse," by fellow (can it be a coincidence?) Cincinnati sons Afghan Whigs.
Also, maybe "You're Still Standing There" by Steve Earle, when previously more or less AWOL Lucinda Williams suddenly pops up.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 17 May 2019 15:13 (four years ago) link
I didn't realize that the album was made in such close collaboration with Mike Mills, who even produced. Has he produced anything else?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 17 May 2019 15:17 (four years ago) link
Marcy Mays on "My Curse" feels to me like much more direct and successful attempt at a counterpoint/perspective change than anything here.
― Simon H., Friday, 17 May 2019 15:19 (four years ago) link
anyway I can already tell this is going to be yet another one of those albums where I stick to listening to my own resequence/edit and get a lot more out of it that way
― Simon H., Friday, 17 May 2019 15:21 (four years ago) link
i made a thread: thread for i am easy to find, the 2019 album by the national and film by mike mills
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 17 May 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
There are lots of candidates, but this really is the best album by them, isn't it? So sad and pretty.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 May 2023 22:29 (eleven months ago) link
it is
― poster of sparks (rogermexico.), Saturday, 20 May 2023 23:32 (eleven months ago) link
This is by far my favourite album of theirs. There's real sadness but also exaggerated sadness (played for humour, I think?), similar to what Tindersticks used to do. It's a perfect balance that they haven't managed to duplicate since.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Sunday, 21 May 2023 14:06 (eleven months ago) link