The National
September 13th, 2007
Who comes to Minneapolis next week? The National
For a while I thought that I would listen their new album, “Boxer,” into the ground. It hasn’t happened yet.
A couple of videos:
The second one is of them on Letterman, which turns out to be a surprisingly good performance for a Late Show gig.
By all rights, the half spoken not really singing thing shouldn’t work, especially when they throw in background vocals. Maybe what I like is that this makes it very singable for guys like me, with little discernible vocal talent.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Hokey smoke Bullwinkle! Could there be any more of an archetypal Ian song?
Components:
1. Well written lyrics, mumbled in a Tom Waits drunk-at-the-piano sort of way.
2. Grand but well expressed subject matter. (C’mon, “Half awake in our fake empire” could have been a line from “Comfortable”)
3. The long form melody over a slow build, and even a horn chorale to top it all off.
Good stuff. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have given it a second listen, but filtered through Tom Waits and Anathallo, I kind of like it.