RIYL: Arcade Fire, Interpol, The Walkmen
Somehow I was one of the few music writers not to swoon for The National’s 2007 critical darling The Boxer. I found it a little boring and hard to get into.
So why, a couple of years later, have I responded so positively to High Violet? It’s not like they’re doing anything radically different. Sweeping and anthemic but still low-key indie rock is this band’s calling card, and has been pretty much since its self-titled debut album came out in 2001.
One element of my turnaround can be credited to seeing the band live last summer during the Virgin FreeFest, or whatever they’re calling it now, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in the Maryland suburbs.
They were sandwiched between Public Enemy and Girl Talk on the second stage, and to be honest I stuck around only because I didn’t feel like fighting the pre-Weezer crowd at the bigger stage up the hill.
Frontman Matt Berninger won a laugh by quipping, “We’re The National, and we’re actually a lot like Public Enemy,” or something similar. They then proceeded to make a believer out of everyone in hearing distance, putting on one of those gripping and uplifting shows that sneaks up on you and makes you reconsider everything you’ve heard from this band before.
Like the show, High Violet is a slow but hard charger. The album takes a while to get going, and being front-loaded with titles such as “Terrible Love,” “Sorrow,” “Little Faith” and “Afraid of Everyone” gives the listener a pretty good sense of the vibe.
And a vibe is pretty much the only guidepost you get lyric-wise. I may be missing something, but lines like “you and your sister live in a lemon world” and “I was carried to Ohio on a swarm of bees” don’t jump out as super-meaningful.
But by the time “Bloodbuzz Ohio” rolled around six tracks in, I began to realize I was entranced, and the excellent “Conversation 16” and “England” kept me listening right until the end. And I’ve kept listening since, again and again. (4AD 2010)
