Album review: The National – Boxer
musicOMH.com
A while ago I wrote a review of The National at the 100 Club, and confessed that their last song of the night left me in tears. It was the climax of an emotionally draining set. By the time I listened to Gospel, the final track on the band’s new album Boxer, I found the salt pricking my eyes again.
Subtle and wistful, Gospel features a classic Matt Berninger vocal, at once intimate and longing, which contrasts softly with a piano and guitar melody that echoes the plaintive toll of a distant church bell. It is a far cry from the raw anger that has characterised much of the Brooklyn-base quintet’s previous work, especially their breakthrough 2005 album Alligator.
That the band has finally arrived in Americana’s mainstream is evidenced from a roll call of Stateside coolsters who lend a hand on Boxer – including Sufjan Stevens and Australian composer Padma Newsome.
A starry roll call can be a warning that style has defeated substance as a band tries to resuscitate what made them work “before they were famous”. For The National, who had struggled to be heard with three previous albums, topping Alligator was daunting and the pressure to deliver more of the same has been, by their own admission, at least initially, creatively crippling, hence the two year wait.
Fans expecting Alligator Mark 2 will be disappointed. Boxer lacks the harsh edges and violent imperative that powered much of Berninger’s lyrics and delivery, as well as the music of brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf. That does not mean, however, it is a bad album. Far from it. Put simply Boxer is superb. A classic that grows like ivy on every play.
Kicking off with Fake Empire, in which Berninger’s melancholy baritone reflects on a somnambulant middle America, “half awake in a fake empire”, it signals an album that throughout is more observational than enraged.
The song’s sinister build-up, thanks to Bryan Dessinger’s characteristic drumming and an almost neurotic piano melody, is discomforting – a musical theme reflected elsewhere, including in Guest Room and Apartment, where Devendorf uses polyrhythms to add texture. In Start A War this subtle dissonance underlines Berninger’s disturbing vocal, which renders sinister despairing lyrics.
Those looking for a return to the aggressive polemic of past albums will find most comfort in Mistaken For Strangers, although the reiterated chorus of “showered and blue-blazing, fill yourself with quarters” is more of a comment on the alienation of fame, the musician turned marionette, a human jukebox or object joié. It is a rare angry moment on what is – despite Devendorf’s rapid fire drumming – a deeply reflective, hypnotic set of songs.
Alienation is the over-riding theme of an album that consistently asserts the personal over the political. Perhaps this is a sign of too long on the road and feeling disconnected from the folks back home. It is a theme echoed in tracks such as Green Gloves (a sad, song for lonely lovers if there ever was one) and Start A War, which features one of Berninger’s best lines in a long list of esoteric lyrical wisdom (“you were always weird but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now”).
A joy of Boxer is Bryce Dessner’s Spanish guitar, showcased gloriously on among others Racing Like A Pro and Ada. We’ve heard it before of course on the luminous Daughters of the Soho Riots and creepy Cherry Tree, but on Boxer his talent is no longer hidden behind those of his louder splashier band mates.
Racing Like A Pro is, along with Gospel, a Sufjan Stevens-influenced tracks. For once the drumming is ditched to reveal a ballad that could in the hands of the likes of Rufus Wainwright be turned into a classic torch song. Berninger’s baritone sounds comforting and humorously nostalgic.
Dessner’s guitar provides the backbone to Ada, my current favourite – though with songs as good as this that keeps changing. A euphoric love story, the piano provides a counter melody that adds an almost painful wistfulness that, thanks to a major chord break that washes over the melody like a fresh wave, brings to mind lost summer days and long-forgotten love affairs.
Berninger’s craftsmanship as a lyricist, his ability to reflect the commonplace and profound are for once playfully displayed,before the band moves into the hypnotic Gospel, and I find myself tearful. Listen to the words and you are reminded of what it is to glory in small moments shared.
The National were worried that they wouldn’t be able to follow up Alligator, that fans would be disappointed. Boxer proves their fears ungrounded – and that Alligator was no one classic wonder.
5 Responses to “Album review: The National – Boxer”
Great review. Totally agree that Boxer is amazing. My favorite release of the year thus far.
Hi,
“The Take-Away Shows” is a French site which catches bands when they are in France and films impromptu performances. There’s a fantastic late-night take on “Start A War”, and a version of Ada filmed in a chapel high on the mountains. Both here.
Lots of other interesting stuff on the site too – the Arcade Fire and Shins videos are worth a watch.
Enjoying your blog very much, thank you for some great posts.
Thanks Iain, I will check that out. And Dave, yep, I think this is a grower. Can’t wait to see the band again in November….
Comepletely agree Danuta, this is my favourite album of the year so far. Better than Alligator I think, or at least more cohesive. I stupidly missed their Astoria gig but am determined to see them in November.
Yep I have to agree with that one Tasha, and that is in a tough year – I saw Andrew Bird on Sunday and walked away with his album, which is really rather fabulous…
Leave a Reply