So far, the only American cities that Brooklyn indie-rock group The National has not sold out on their 2011 tour are San Francisco and Chicago. Unfortunately, that goes for both of their sold-out shows at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle on Nov 30 and Dec 1, with Local Natives and Wye Oak. The National’s seemingly sudden popularity is a simple reflection of the fact that the band’s 2010 album High Violet is a masterpiece. The album combines Matt Berninger’s remorseful, baritone vocals with lyrical instrumental arrangements clearly informed by classical training. There are contributions from the likes of Justin Vernon (aka Bonny Prince Billy), Sufjan Stevens, and Richard Perry from Arcade Fire. There is also a fabulous DIY esthetic gained by choosing to record most of the album in guitarist/co-songwriter Aaron Dessner’s garage in Brooklyn. The resultant songs are exuberantly gritty and vulnerable, all the while maintaining a kind of pop clarity in melody and structure rarely found outside the discography of The Beatles. However, High Violet does for melancholic anthems what A Hard Day’s Night did for quaint love songs: it brings them deeply into pop music.
The themes of uncertainty and disillusionment ring clearly in Beringer’s voice through Aaron Dessner’s compositions. Every song on High Violet fully explores the power of pop music. There simply are no throwaway tracks on this album. With each listen, I cannot help but pick a new favorite song with new favorite lyrics. Throughout the album, Beringer consistently summons the triumphant sorrow of everyday life.In “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” he sings,
“I still owe money, to the money, to the money I owe,
I never thought about love when I thought about home,
I still owe money, to the money, to the money I owe,
The floors are falling out from everyone I know.
I’m on a blood buzz, yes I am.”
Like the best of Beringer’s lyrics, these lines have multiple readings, simultaneously born of the debt crisis, and expressive of profound despair in one’s own surroundings.
The song “Sorrow” contains some of the album’s most powerful poetics. Beringer croons and weeps over ridged high hats, staccato keys and droning guitars in the chorus:
“Don’t leave my hyper heart alone, on the water,
Cover my body in rag and bone, sympathy,
‘Cuz I don’t want to get over you,
I don’t want to get over you.”
Like many passages in High Violet, the lyrics here are arresting even without the musical context. When laced into the music, they become otherworldly.
Meanwhile, outside their studio albums, The National has proven themselves one of the most powerful rock acts anywhere, peers of Arcade Fire and My Morning Jacket. The Seattle shows will almost certainty be among the best rock music has to offer; particularly paired with the afropop influenced harmonies of Los Angeles indie band Local Natives.