High Violet & City Lights

I must admit it took me listening to Boxer several times before The National started to grow on me. There was something that just didn’t click at first—perhaps Matt Berninger’s baritone voice just wasn’t something that I was used to hearing, perhaps it was just the overall sound. In any case, a recent midnight drive to up to Portland from Eugene made the Brooklyn-based group fall perfectly into my heart. I’m guessing that my propensity to envision every late-night drive I take as a scene from a movie allowed The National become my perfect big city soundtrack.



Their latest full length High Violet is mostly similar to Boxer, the only noticeable difference is that the composition feels warmer and fuller, despite the apparent emptiness that the lyrics often convey. Again, the music itself is driving and epic, well layered and complete. The production is flawless except for a few occurrences of overused reverb on the vocals, but that’s hardly a deal breaker.

So long story short I would definitely recommend High Violet be added to the library of anybody that has previously enjoyed The National. The album is solid and thoroughly enjoyable, the ideal background music to welcome you back to those man-made lights after a long night of driving in the countryside.