thread for i am easy to find, the 2019 album by the national and film by mike mills

this will take a while for me to digest but Not in Kansas is probably the most National-y epic I can imagine.

Listened today a few times. Kind of washed over me. A bit corporate and boring though. Trying too hard to be worthy but the songs just aren't there. I can imagine any of these songs sounding good at the start of an Apple presentation, you know the bits where you see the audience before Tim Cook walks onstage.

vnp

I love how this album continually seems to allude to Cohen's Ten New Songs.

I am very happily surprised by how great this is

Rylan, you should try to get some sun
There's a little bit of hell in everyone

listening for the first time now, and all the arrangements of gorgeous--'the pull of you' in particular is jaw-dropping. and bryan devendorf is probably the best drummer in contemporary rock ('quiet light' and 'where is her head' stand out here). i think the prevalence of female vocals makes a lot of sense, considering carin besser's heavy contribution to the lyrics. she's credited as the sole lyricist on 'you had your soul with you' and 'hey rosey,' and is credited as a contributor on a few others.

listening for the first time now, and all the arrangements of gorgeous all of the arrangements are gorgeous

this album is really good, though for me it tails off after the halfway mark or so, after the uptempo songs. the drumming on the first 5 or 6 tracks is really, really impressive

“not in kansas” sounds like okkervil river covering leonard cohen, and I’m here for it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQU2XwNhHFk

live performance really exposes what an exquisite song this is

Excellent show in Cardiff last night. On for about two hours and played over half the new album plus two from Cherry Tree! (Wasp Nest, About Today)

Fantastic version of Bloodbuzz Ohio too with this crashing wall of sound coming in after the chorus

Really like this although the drums sound programmed which seems an odd choice for this band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6BQ8aD1AZI