the only thing i ever want anymore

A few sort of jumbled words for High Violet, the new album by The National.

I think I agree with most of what the guy over at Chromewaves has to say. To suggest it’s “more of the same” or a plateau after Boxer is probably pretty spot on; this album is certain more National songs that sound like National songs, specifically Boxer songs.  And I don’t think this should really disappoint anyone.  I mean, how many bands knock us out with one amazing, long-lasting album and then come back to disappoint?  With The National it’s been sheer consistency — everything in their catalog is excellent or at least above average.  And it’s certain despite this album holding firmly to The National’s previous winning formula and not really pushing forward too much, there’s a sense in a couple of places that they’re looking to budge their sound in different directions — the exploration of noise in songs like “Terrible Love”, is one example.

And it’s true that songs like “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, “Conversation 16″ and “England,” are maybe the most National-y National songs yet.  Which for me is a really good thing.  I can’t stop listening to these; they’re my favourites.  I think the best part about The National and these songs in particular is the magic realism element, or the way certain fantastical elements sweep into the fold of the very real-life, late-twenties/early-thirties dread that’s at the forefront of the band’s lyrics (and of High Violet more than anywhere before).  It’s what makes The National’s catalog, to quote Ian Mathers, “oddly touching and at times very funny.”**  And, I’ll add, what makes them a band worth listening to above the same band that’s set just in stark portrayals of (a depressed) life.  The clarity of images like being “carried…in a swarm of bees”, or falling asleep in a lover’s “branches” can be effortlessly decoded into reality but still provide us with the magical perspective of the speaker — it’s as though he’s trying to let his dreams flood into the obviously dreary and colourless existence he inhabits, but maybe those dreams also become dark and sad in the process.

I’ll add as a sidenote that my favourite part about “Conversation 16″ is the way the propulsive verses snap back in from the chorus, which soars and floats above.

**This makes me think most of all of the “I was afraid I’d eat your brains” line from “Conversation 16.”