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Album Details
- Artist: The National
- Album: High Violet
- Label: 4AD
- Year of Release: 2010
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: tosnob on 2010-05-19
RecommendI think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would disagree that The National's Boxer was one of the best albums of 2007. That means a lot of people have spent a lot of time anticipating the release of its follow-up High Violet (out May 11th).
Fans will be pleased to hear that success hasn't made Matt Berninger any happier over the last couple of years. Lyrically, songs like "Sorrow" and "Anyone's Ghost" are brimming with hopelessness and despair. "Runaway" provides the voice of defiance a la Boxer's "Start a War". Throughout Berninger's vocals present them with the appropriate level of despondency.
The bulk of the arrangements will be familiar. Songs like the triumphant "England" are lush and very deliberately structured. The Dessner brothers guitars are supplemented by a wide array of supporting instruments, including piano and the now requisite strings.
There are a handful of instances, such as on the smoldering opener "Terrible Love", when the band does venture into a more dissonant sound. At times they even seem to flirt with chaos, always halting just before the song completely collapses in on itself.
The trademark National intensity is on full display on "Ohio Bloodbuzz". It's there on "Afraid of Everyone" too, a track that's vintage National with a twist. The slow build is layered with fetching backing vocals by Marla Hansen, that carry you to the brink of the abyss before abandoning you there, seeking closure. Elsewhere on the record, backing vocals are provide by The Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Perry, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and Sufjan Stevens.
Much like its predecessor it takes a while to immerse yourself in High Violet. It's worth the effort though, as the payoff is tremendous when you finally come to fully appreciate the album.
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on 2011-12-04 CharlesMartel Said:
Pitchfork, one of the self-appointed music guru websites of the modern world described " High Violet " as being not exactly dad-rock but men's magazine rock . Now at my age I normally take offence to the term Dad Rock and, for the record, I do not read mens magazines like Q and so on. Plus, given that I usually have a low opinion of the so-called opinion formers of Pitchfork, where does all that leave me in relation to this album?
To a certain extent I can understand the quotation. The National have made an art form of indie rock, or alternative rock or whatever you want to call it. " High Violet" is well performed, well written and well produced. It has good lyrics and, apart from the occasional lapse in the singer, pretty good vocals too. So why is it that anyone would actually find this dislikeable, assuming of course they are amenable to indie rock in the first place. Or if not dislikeable, at the very least, uninspiring?
That question is easy to anwer. If I have to be honest, the National have turned indie rock into something generic. There is nothing on the least bit original on "High Violet" . Individually, the songs may be good, and quite frankly they are, but this is an album where the whole is far far inferior to the sum of its parts. Frankly, if I listen to this all at one sitting I become bored and restless. This is indie rock playing it safe. You might not quite be able to play it to your dad and get him to like it (then again if your dad is like me he might not find it interesting for different reasons), but it is certainly safe enough to satisfy even the blandest English palate. There's nothing to get worked up here folks. It's just the National playing " High Violet" . It's safe to let your daughters out.
This is a real shame. Talent such as this should have better material to work with. It deserves to have something to say for I am sure that the National could say it very well indeed. Instead, they have opted to stay within their comfort zone in the hope that everyone who liStens to it will be lulled into their own comfort zone and, thus comforted, identify this record with safety, security and little to intellectually challenge or stimulate you. If that was the band's intention, they have succeded. And more's the pity.
Rating: 5/10
on 2010-05-21 SolitaryMan Said:
Oh yeah, it's practically all I've been listening to for the past week. I actually added this album with the intention of reviewing it, but dilly-dallied too long. High Violet has my vote for album of the year so far, it is a grower in a way Boxer wasn't. It rewards with repeated listens, while some tracks pop right out. The other half of the album suddenly bursts at you when you're not expecting it. It is, IMO, flawless and everything I wanted after Boxer. To me, the songs "Sorrow" and "Conversation 16" are a couple of the most touching and beautiful songs I've ever heard from anyone ever. They make the album that much more special to me, but every song here has real impact. You just might need to let it set in a bit longer than you did previously.
Rating: 9/10
