Bitter lyrical content has been the main ingredient of a lot of classic songs. Going back to the venomous bile of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice"(and certainly before it as well), jilted lovers storylines have been responsible for great music. "Beautiful Head,"the opening cut on the National's debut, can now be added to the list of great embittered tales. With singer Matt Berninger's low-pitched voice recalling the creepiness of Nick Cave, a tale of impending relationship doom is put forth in stark detail. When Berninger intones, "You've got a diagram of your associations/A strategy, you're weighing your options/What would you trade me for?/You're measuring me lately, and I can tell I'm losing weight"the listener can't help but shudder. As pianos twinkle during the chorus, Berninger delivers more classic lines: "Don't tell me I've changed/Your just raising your standards."As "Beautiful Head"and a number of similarly strong songs prove, Berninger and the rest of the boys in the National have broken into the great bitter song cycle pantheon on their first time out.
The dark terrain of the heart is the territory where the National's music resides, and they occupy it well. "My mom listens to the album and always tries to figureout which songs are about which ex-girlfriends,"joked Berninger. "It's not really that confessional though, the songs are just a loose reflection of what was going on with me at the time. It certainly wasn't a diary. "
A sedate sound characterizes mostof the numbers on The National, no songs are particularly rockin', but the precision with which the band executes their slow-burn form of folk-rock is mesmerizing. The record draws its strength from a series of little moments (Berninger's consistently evocative words, guitarist Scott Devendorf's economic and tasteful lead work) as opposed to any sonic bombast.
"The way we made the record was a really great situation,"Berninger offers by way of explanation. "There was a friend of ours, Nick Lloyd, who has his own little studio in his basement. Over the period of about three months we would just go there after work and lay things down, we didn't even necessarily think that we were making an album. It sort of just slowly built up from there. It was definitely a really casual recording thing, we didn't feel there was a gun to our head in terms of time and money, we just hung out."This relaxed vibe shines through on every moment of the record, but the National never comes off as amateurs.
Comprised of two sets of brothers and their childhood friend, the National's sound is as intimate as their relationships with one another would suggest. Berninger readily acknowledges the personal relationships of the band members as essential to the National's musicalchemistry. "It's interesting because sometimes with the brothers you have frictions that are much more difficult to work around than a typical band. It's not like the band is some harmonious thing. Ultimately it's good though, because it's the kind of friction that you know no matter what happens, you have to work it out. We're committed to each other as friends and brothers. It makes us stronger, we're not threatened by bad album reviews or gigs. We're not the most stellar musicians but we're committed."
The band relies primarily on acoustic guitars and piano for instrumental coloring, with occasional touches of steel guitar and other alt. country staples to round things out. Although dabbling in a lot of genres, the National pull them all off convincing ly. "I think one of the reasons we're hard to pin down is because none of us are directly into the same thing,"said Berninger. "It's just a collaboration of different ideas. My whole influences are in the realm of Tom Waits and that sort of sadness thing.Bryce is a classical guitarist and in another band doing post-classical fusion. Brian and Scott are huge Grateful Dead fans. I think with some of these songs, we didn't know at the time where we were headed, we were trying to find our legs a little bit. Ithink it helped make for a more interesting record."
Although now residing in New York City, it isn't surprising to learn the band hails from Ohio originally. Recalling fellow former Ohioan Greg Dulli and the Afghan Whigs, the National strike a balance be tween glimpses of vulnerability and dark psychoses throughout their debut, resulting in am alarmingly intense and engaging listen.
