Skip to main content

Review: The National - Trouble Will Find Me

Rating: 8.9

The National have made a career writing knotty songs about the realities of leaving youth behind and settling down. On first listen, all of their albums sound similar, but further listens reveal that each one has a unique mood and personality. I see their albums as a progression through the stages of grief.

Alligator is denial. Its songs have a drunken energy that the band has never recaptured. It is unique in having songs with conspicuous hope ("Lit Up", "Mr. November") and warm romance ("The Geese of Beverly Road", "Looking for Astronauts"). This is an album about knowing that you're not as young as you used to be, but going out and drowning that knowledge in alcohol and ephemeral love.

Boxer is anger. There is a focused aggression here, thanks in large part to Bryan Devendorf's drumming, which is is absolutely brilliant throughout and a clear notch above his work anywhere else. It lashes out against the realities adulthood ("Mistaken for Strangers") and mocks the mentality of middle class existence ("Brainy", "Racing Like Pro"). It's about understanding exactly how you'll inevitably end up, but fighting against it anyways.

High Violet is depression. Here, the drums are noticeably more relaxed, and the guitars eschew melodic lines for hazy textures. Overall, the arrangements are the simplest of all their albums, and nearly all the songs have a feel of wry, weary resignation. This is an album about not liking where you're headed, but not caring enough anymore to do something about it.

It follows then, that Trouble Will Find Me is acceptance. Here, there's an unforced looseness to the songs that sets them apart from The National's previous efforts. That's not to say that the songs are happy, but, even with the odd song structures and time signatures, most of them feel comfortable. They sound settled, at peace. This is an album about about finding out that where you've ended up isn't as bad as you thought it would be.

In terms of quality, the album is very good.  It certainly doesn't come close to the lofty heights scaled by Alligator and Boxer. Even compared to High Violet, the songwriting is a solid step down. There's some of the worst songs The National have ever put out ("Hard to Find") and some songs that feel like they were just a series of ideas glued together in no particular order ("Pink Rabbits", "Humiliation"). Still, the more varied instrumentation picks up some of the slack, and everything clicks together more often than not.

There are about eight good songs on the album, which is more than enough make them one of only half a dozen artists to release four good album in their career. U2, Radiohead, Coldplay, Kanye West, and Taylor Swift are pretty good company to be in.

Personally, in a few short weeks, I've already listened through Trouble Will Find Me more than High Violet. It isn't in the running for my favorite album of all time like Alligator and Boxer, but it is my favorite album to be released this year (or the last two years for that matter), and that's plenty good enough.

Key Tracks: Don't Swallow the Cap, Heavenfaced, I Need My Girl

Track-by-Track Rating:
  1. I Should Live in Salt - 7.0
  2. Demons - 8.5
  3. Don't Swallow the Cap - 9.0
  4. Fireproof - 6.5
  5. Sea of Love - 7.0
  6. Heavenfaced - 8.5
  7. This Is the Last Time - 7.0
  8. Graceless - 10.0
  9. Slipped - 7.5
  10. I Need My Girl - 8.0
  11. Humiliation -7.5
  12. Pink Rabbits - 7.5
  13. Hard to Find - 6.0
For comparison, the ratings for their previous albums:

Alligator - 9.8
Key Tracks: The Geese of Beverly Road, Daughters of the Soho Riots, Looking for Astronauts

Boxer - 10
Key Tracks: Fake Empire, Slow Show, Apartment Story, Mistaken for Strangers

High Violet - 8.7
Key Tracks: Runaway, Lemonworld, Bloodbuzz Ohio

Rating Key:
10.0 - Phenomenal
9.5 - Brilliant
9.0 - Great
8.5 - Very Good
8.0 - Good
7.5 - Solid
7.0 - Decent
6.5 - Passable
6.0 - Mediocre
5.5 - Poor
5.0 - Bad
4.5 - Abysmal

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Made a Blog, I Made a Blog, Look at Me, I Made a Blog

I spend what can only be described as an obscene amount of time listening to music.  So, to convince myself that all that time hasn't been a complete waste, I've made a blog to share some musical knowledge I've gained over the years.  Thank you for being interested/bored enough to bother reading this, and hopefully, you'll learn a bit and discover some good new music. First, a bit about the blog name so you don't think it's complete retarded.  It's just an amalgamation of two song names, "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis and "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve (both absolutely classic britpop tracks, BTW).  It doesn't really mean anything, but it rolls off the tongue well.  Also, more importantly, it conjures up the lovely image of a melodious, alcoholic explosion of musical joy, and I sorta like that. Now a bit about my general music philosophy, illustrated by one of my favorite musical quote, courtesy of Lil Wayne, off of the song...

Top 10 Albums of the 2000's

Since everyone likes lists, here's another list.  My 10 favorite albums of the aughts.  By far my favorite decade in music and the one I know the most about; it was rather heart wrenching trying to narrow the list down to 10.  More than enough has already been said in the music press about all these albums, so I'll just give a explanation of why I like each and note my favorite tracks. The National - Boxer : My favorite album of all time.  The general topic of the album, the fear and general discomfort of transitioning and settling into adulthood, really connects with me at the moment.  It feels tense, while Alligator feels drunk and High Violet feels depressed.  This tension gives the songs a direction and a purpose absent on the other albums.  It also doesn't hurt that it has the best songs of the three.  Hell, there's not a single bad track (one of less than a dozen albums that I can say that about).  Also, Bryan Devondorf is sim...

Lists 4 Bitches

Now, for some actual music.  First, my last.fm account if you want a quick snapshot of what I like.  (Yes, I know, the name is stupid, go ahead and laugh, I don't care...)  Also, I made you bitches a list...bitches love lists... Top 10 Songs of 2011 (so far): The Weeknd - Wicked Games :   This song is perfect.  The best track off of the most interesting album to come out this year (It's also free, you should download it and give it a listen if you haven't already: Link ).  The overblown drums and grimy guitars give the song a lot of momentum and a great ambiance, but really, the song is all about Abel Tesfaye.  His voice is hauntingly perfect (or perfectly haunting, either one works) and his songwriting is on point all the way through.  I tried to pick the best part of this song, but I just can't.  It's that good. Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers : Should have won Video of the Year.  At least he won Best New Artist. Kid deserved it. H...